Dr. S. Deborah Kang presents a lecture in the DeGolyer Library as part of the Brown Bag series. (Sarah Acosta)
Members of the local and SMU communities gathered yesterday to hear Dr. S. Deborah Kang’s findings on her research study entitled, “The Legal Construction of the Borderlands: The INS, Immigration Law, and immigrant Rights on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1917-1954.”
The event was sponsored by the Bill and Rita Clements Research Fellowships for the Study of Southwestern America and the Summerlee Fellowship in Texas History.
The Texana Room, filled with historical artifacts from Texas and books chronicling the state’s past, served as a backdrop for Dr. Kang’s discussion on the historical implications of border patrol on legislation today.
Citing historical data that she thinks reveal the shortcomings of the normative vision of the border between the U.S. and Mexico, Dr. Kang’s study brings to bear a rebuttal to the vision of an impenetrable border that dominates contemporary policy debates.
“March 4, 1929, marked the criminalization of illegal entry into the U.S.,” said Kang. “This constructed an image of the border as hardened and closed.”
Despite this hardened image, Kang points out that immigration actually increased after such laws were passed – figures reaching far into the millions. Through her extensive research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Kang discovered that Congress failed to provide adequate funding and materials to enforce immigration laws – among them literacy tests and the issue of passports – paired with a history of loopholes for immigrants to gain access into the U.S.
“The INS ultimately promoted and regulated rather than restricted,” Kang remarked. “This was despised by nativists but demanded by industrialists.”
By reaching back in time to understand the history of the border – both its vision in the minds of legislators as hardened and, in contrast, the actual condition of the border – Kang says she hopes that a new perspective will help end the cycle of striving for an ideal that has never in fact existed.
This issue hits close to home for students at SMU both academically and personally.
“It is important to me because I have family that has ties with Mexico,” said Todd Meyers, a history Ph.D. candidate focusing on Southwest issues. “This means a lot on a personal level.”
Kang plans to direct her future research toward the exploration of the social context contributing to the complicated image of the border through its transnational ties to the INS.
Efforts such as Kang’s help to educate people like Betty Bernhardt of the League of Women Voters about immigration issues and policymaking.
“Our league is trying to come to a standpoint on the impact of immigration on Dallas County. We’re looking at the effects on the environment, economy, education, health, law and culture,” said Bernhardt.
“Many people feel that [immigrants] are either criminals or just people who need help and can’t get enough to eat,” she said.
Strict border control isn’t as simple as it seems; both sies have to work out how many agents will be on which side of the line. Plus, illegal immigrants are a driving force in the Texas economy, contributing $17.7 billion annually.
Workers also constitute most of the state’s population growth. Currently, almost 100 percent of the net population growth in Dallas County consists of immigrants.
Dr. Kang holds her M.A. in jurisprudence and social policy and her Ph.D. in history, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
The Bill and Rita Clements Research Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America and the Summerlee Fellowship in Texas History have sponsored five scholars for the 2006 – 2007 year. To apply for a Fellowship, please visit. http://www.smu.edu/swcenter/announce.htm.
