The Deportation Machine That Never Learns

(Krotchett.com) Deportations. America’s favorite recurring policy disaster. Like an aging rock band that just won’t quit touring, this country has played the “kick ‘em out” anthem more times than we can count, and yet—somehow—it never quite delivers the promised hit.

This week, the Trump administration revved up mass deportations, rounding up so-called “illegals” like they’re cleaning out the garage before company arrives. And in a bold, Constitutionally creative move, Trump even signed an executive order attempting to erase birthright citizenship—a policy so fundamental to American law that it’s literally baked into the 14th Amendment. But let’s not get bogged down in pesky things like “precedent” or “basic legal literacy.” The courts have already put it on pause, but we all know this administration thrives on the attempt rather than the execution. Sound familiar? It should. Because we’ve seen this show before—back when America decided that Chinese immigrants were the ultimate scapegoat, not for taking jobs, but for simply existing.

The Chinese Exclusion Act and the Deportation Machine (1882-1943)

Let’s rewind to 1882, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning virtually all Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. It was the first major law to explicitly bar an entire ethnic group from entering the country. Why? Because after decades of using Chinese labor to build railroads, dig mines, and generally do the thankless work that fueled America’s industrial boom, the country decided it was time for a “Thanks, but no thanks” moment.

By the early 20th century, the government took things a step further. The 1900s saw mass deportations of Chinese immigrants, often under flimsy legal pretenses. The infamous Geary Act (1892) extended exclusion and required Chinese residents to carry special documentation. If they couldn’t prove they belonged, they were deported. Sound familiar?

At one point, the government got so aggressive with deportations that they set up Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco—a detention center that made Ellis Island look like a cruise terminal. Chinese immigrants were detained, interrogated, and often deported on technicalities.

But here’s where it gets interesting: it didn’t work.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

See, mass deportations are like squeezing a balloon—when you press down on one side, something bulges out elsewhere. The crackdown on Chinese immigration led to:

1. The Rise of Underground Immigration – Deportation didn’t stop people from coming. It just made them sneakier. The “paper son” phenomenon was born—where Chinese migrants purchased false identities to claim U.S. citizenship.
2. An Economic Backfire – America soon realized that, whoops, Chinese workers were integral to industries like agriculture, construction, and laundries. Business owners started looking for ways to bypass their own anti-immigrant policies.
3. Selective Enforcement & Corruption – Just like today, deportation efforts didn’t really target everyone equally. Some businesses found loopholes to keep workers. Corrupt officials took bribes. And wealthy immigrants often found ways around the system.
4. The Courts Pushed Back – Many deportations were challenged, and by the 1940s, exclusion laws were repealed as America needed China as an ally in WWII. Turns out, pissing off an entire ethnic group wasn’t great for diplomacy.

Fast Forward to 2025 – The Echoes Are Deafening

Now, here we are. Trump’s bringing back mass deportations, this time aimed at Latino immigrants. He’s also trying to undo birthright citizenship, a move that, if somehow upheld, would create millions of stateless people overnight. The government, of course, insists that it can swiftly identify, process, and remove “illegal” immigrants en masse.

But let’s check the reality scoreboard:

• Already overwhelming court backlog – Immigration courts are backed up by years. Swift deportations? Not likely.
• Mass labor shortages – Deporting undocumented immigrants would gut industries from agriculture to construction—just like with the Chinese in the 1900s.
• A balloon effect on illegal immigration – As history has shown, deportations don’t stop migration; they just force people into more dangerous, undocumented routes.
• Selective enforcement & corruption (again) – Not everyone gets deported equally (you could always marry a future president). Businesses and industries will find loopholes for the labor they need, while those without power bear the brunt of enforcement.
• The courts will push back – Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Even a conservative Supreme Court is unlikely to let this one fly. Much like Chinese exclusion laws, this policy will collapse under legal and economic pressures—but not before creating chaos in the meantime.

Rinse and Repeat: The Broken Record of History

The last time the U.S. tried mass deportations as a national strategy, it failed spectacularly—it didn’t stop immigration, it didn’t fix the economy, and it created new legal and social crises. And yet, here we are, dusting off the same broken policies, hoping that maybe this time, they’ll work.

If history tells us anything, they won’t. But hey—maybe in 2125, when another administration tries this stunt again, they’ll be doing their own “Rinse and Repeat” segment about the Trump deportation debacle of 2025.

Because if there’s one thing America does better than mass deportations—it’s forgetting how bad they turned out last time.