On Tuesday, June 19, 2007 the ACS Boston Lawyer Chapter hosted a lecture and presentation featuring Professor Daniel Kanstroom, author of “Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History” (Harvard University Press). The discussion explored some of the deepest aspects of the current U.S. debate, with particular focus on the nature and history of the U.S. deportation system as described in Prof. Kanstroom's new book.

“Deportation Nation” is a chilling history of communal self-idealization and self-protection. The post-Revolutionary Alien and Sedition Laws, the Fugitive Slave laws, the Indian "removals," the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Palmer Raids, the internment of the Japanese Americans--all sought to remove those whose origins suggested they could never become "true" Americans. And for more than a century, millions of Mexicans have conveniently served as cheap labor, crossing a border that was not official until the early twentieth century and being sent back across it when they became a burden.

To view the event brochure please click here.

To view pictures from the event click here.