A Twentieth-Century History of Migrant Imprisonment in the U.S.

Undergraduate

Like the nation’s prison system, today’s U.S. immigration detention apparatus is the largest of its kind in the world. By predominantly detaining migrants of color, it functions as a highly racialized carceral structure that excludes, removes, and punishes non–U.S. citizens. This seminar traces the historical relationship between migrants and the U.S. carceral state from the early twentieth century to the present. It examines how such an expansive system of migrant imprisonment and policing evolved and how struggles for freedom challenged carceral power. Key questions include: What is migrant incarceration? Who are the people who have been historically confined in migrant jails? What are the archival challenges of studying these histories? How have U.S. authorities revised immigration, asylum, and foreign policy to create a highly racialized immigration detention system? What is the transnational scope of the U.S. migrant carceral regime? How have immigration prisons become sites of racialization, politicization, and insurgence? In what historical context have migrants, local communities, activists, foreign governments, and U.S. policymakers contested—or consented to—the mass incarceration of non-U.S. citizens? How are the prison system and the immigration detention apparatus intertwined? Drawing on seminar discussions and themes, students will produce an original research paper. WR , HU T 1:30pm-3:25pm