Detention to Reintegration in the Context of The 1996 Immigration Reform Act: Life Experiences of Immigrant Women Deported to Trinidad and Tobago

Forced return migration of legal immigrants and criminal aliens from the United States to their country of origin has increased significantly since 1996. According to the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) (2006) between 1996 and 2004, deportations from the U.S. were 1.5 million persons. The Caribbean has experienced this social phenomenon with 36,000 individuals being deported between 1990 and 2005 (Nurse, 2005). This has resulted in a trend towards criminalization of immigration violations which is one of the outcomes of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). Under this legislation, violations which were classified as misdemeanors are now deemed "aggravated felonies". Between 1990 and 2005, a total of 2,983 persons were deported to Trinidad and Tobago, with 84% being deported from the U.S. (Barnes, 2007).;This exploratory qualitative study examines the life experiences of immigrant women who were deported from the U.S. to the Caribbean island of their birth Trinidad and Tobago in the context of the 1996 IIRIRA. A major focus is to understand how the detention and deportation experiences affected the quality of life of these women. The study also examined what support systems assisted in the adaptation and reintegration of the women on their return to the island. One of the main concerns of the study is to understand the challenges the immigrant women experience in their daily course of living as a result of the unintended consequences of the 1996 Immigration Reform Act.;Nineteen female deportees identified through convenience sampling agreed to share their life stories by responding to 8 semi-structured questions which were used to guide their in-depth interviews. Individual interviews were also conducted with twelve social service providers who vii were selected through convenience sampling. They were asked 9 semi-structured questions. ATLAS ti software assisted in the data management of the interviews which were audio taped and transcribed.;This study is framed within the theoretical context of critical theory. Migration theories are utilized to understand the issues of uprootment, acculturation, and adaptation experienced by the female immigrants in the study. The feminist theory of intersectionality is employed to examine how the 1996 Immigration reform Act disrupts the migration process and impacts on the social phenomenon of deportation.;Utilizing the feminist lens of intesectionality along with migration theories, four main themes: pervasive loss,"triple jeopardy", contradictions and convergence, strength and resilience emerged. These themes parallel the observations of the social service providers interviewed. The findings from the study revealed that the phenomenon of deportation continues to be a traumatic experience as these female immigrants were forced to uproot from their adopted homeland, the U.S. Apart from the multiple losses they incurred, these women continue to experience discrimination and hardships because of their deportee status. The degree of hardship is influenced by their social location, multiple identities, and how they intersect with structural and interlocking oppressions. The study makes a rich contribution to the limited research on deportations to Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. It has significant implications for social work practice, policy, and research in the Caribbean and internationally. Moreover, this research highlights the necessity for immigration policies to adopt a gendered lens. There is a need for increased focus on female immigrants and the myriad of challenges they experience.