The initial thought process during the formation of this thesis topic was to decide
on a region where deportees belonging to the “1.5 generation” were located. Baja
California was viewed as meeting that requirement, with a special focus on Tijuana. Baja
California is located south of San Diego, California in close proximity to the San Ysidro
border, one that is “recognized as the worlds busiest land border crossing for being
responsible for 37% of the migrant flow between Mexico and the U.S.” (Brouwer,
Lozada, Cornelius, Firestone Cruz, Magis-Rodriguez, Zúñiga de Nuncio and Strathdee
2009: 1-2). With the significant activity of this border, there is a relative presence of
demonstrated in the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report for the fiscal years
of 2015-2017, the removals of undocumented individuals as a result of ICE’s interior
enforcement demonstrate that 235,413 individuals were removed in 2015, 240,225 in
2016, and 226,119 in 2017 (2017: 12). It is evident that the trend comparison between
2015, 2016, and 2017 reflects a decrease in the amount of removals since the decline in
border apprehensions occurred during the year 2017. The decline in border apprehensions
however, is not an indicator that there is a halt in the deportation of the “1.5-generation”
of men. On the contrary, this group continues to be deported and continues to face the
hardships of reintegration as evidenced by the referenced statistics, deportation literature,
and fieldwork interviews.
The forced return phenomenon and its trends are demonstrative of the gendered
removal of men in the United States. As Golash-Boza and Hondagneu-Sotelo suggest,
Latino and Afro Caribbean men face disproportionately higher rates of deportation,
giving rise to the “gendered racial removal program” (Golash-Boza and Hondagneu- Sotelo 2013: 272; Rodkey 2016: 36). In the context of Tijuana, the deportation of men of
particular ethnic backgrounds and Mexican nationals has an effect on the international
metropolitan conurbation of San Diego-Tijuana since Mexico is the receiving country.
Thus, focusing on Baja California was crucial since the researcher had familiarity with
the region, there was feasibility for in person travel to the San Ysidro border, and because
of the large presence of deportees in Tijuana.
Participants that were recruited for this study were chosen because of the focus on
their “1.5-generation” status. However, the following requirements had to be met for the selection process of participants:
(2) A minimum of 1+ years living in the U.S. prior to deportation
(3) Individuals who had a minimum of 1+ year living in Tijuana including combining scattered months if re-migration and new deportation(s) occurred.
(4) Individuals who were current call center employees or had previous call center experience.
The focus on this specific type of deportee was done purposefully because of the
participant’s vast exposure to the U.S. and limited exposure to their homeland. This research study required flexibility in regards to the openness of the
participant’s experiences thus the development of a solid researcher-participant relationship was necessary. In an effort to gain trust and provide comfort for the
participants, the entirety of the month of July 2018 was spent visiting the Unified U.S.
Deported Veterans Resource Center, Madres y Familias Deportadas En Acción, and
Deportados Unidos. Participants were willing, descriptive, and raw when sharing about
life in the U.S. and deportation. The trust between researcher and participants was able to
sustain throughout the entirety of the interviews especially during the discussion of prior
encounters with law enforcement. A notable pattern when interviewing participants was
that participants with prior military experience had the tendency to shift the conversation
towards discussions about their military experience and about the U.S’s lack of action
and assistance during deportation proceedings. When this occurred successful attempts
were made to guide the conversation back to the interview questions when necessary.
The recruitment of participants was carried out via referrals from the Unified U.S.
Deported Veterans Resource Center, Madres y Familias Deportadas En Acción,
Deportados Unidos, and from previous participants. Recruitment was also successful
through the use of social media, primarily Facebook. Joining the closed private group
named “Tijuana Call Centers” was instrumental in the recruitment of participants. The moderator of the page was contacted to obtain permission to post about this research
project. The Facebook post facilitated interviewing 5 participants. The use of social
media was crucial in the recruitment of participants because of the time constraint of
employment hours of agents. The call centers that were visited in person expressed that
they did not allow researchers to interview call center agents during working hours.
Joining the Facebook group provided the direct connection to call center agents in which
it allowed the scheduling of interviews at the call center agents convenience. Employing
a two-part recruitment approach both online and in person allowed the participants to
gain a level of trust in participating in interviews because of the familiarity with the
researchers presence at the previously referenced organizations. Referrals from the
founders of each organization were notably efficacious in successfully securing future
interviews and the expressed consent of the moderator of the page included in the post
demonstrated to call center agents that the post was approved, authentic, and trustworthy.
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants.
Participants were interviewed for a minimum of 50 minutes and a maximum of 1 hour
and 20 minutes. Interviews were conducted in a public setting in the location of the
participant’s choice such as cafes, outside of the Unified U.S. Deported Veterans Resource Center, outside and inside of Deportados Unidos, and inside of a gym office.
Participants were explicitly informed about the study, their rights as participants, the
themes of the research questions, and the researchers contact information. Every
participant in this study gave oral consent and all questions prior to commencing the
interviews were answered. In addition to reading the oral consent guide to participants,
participants read the oral consent guide before commencing the interview in order to
was the language preferred by all participants. The questions were structured by themes
consisting of life in the U.S., ICE detention, deportation, life in Tijuana, and call center
employment. Interviews were recorded utilizing a recording device while manually hand
writing field notes in two pocket notebooks. Field notes were recorded while conducting
interviews but also in collective spaces where deportees frequented such as the Unified
U.S. Deported Veterans Resource Center and Deportados Unidos.