Fighting the Deportation Terror 1933-1982

Rachel Buff

Professor of History

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

This talk follows the trajectory of the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born (ACPFB), a multiracial immigrant rights organization active in multiple locations during much of the twentieth century. During this same time span, deportation was increasingly deployed as a counterinsurgency strategy targeting migrant communities. Although the ACPFB failed in its quest to change the deportability of the foreign-born, activists continued to repurpose discourses and strategies across space, time and migrant cohorts.  Drawing on this rich history, the talk considers the ethics proposed by the ACPFB and what use they might be to contemporary struggles.