San Diego historian explores first U.S. deportation in new film
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The current contention around deportations has spurred a San Diego historian to look back to the first deportation in U.S. history.
Why it matters: MacArthur fellows Kelly Lytle Hernández, a La Jolla native, and Alex Rivera tell that story in a new film, "Banishment," whose central themes echo ongoing events today.
Catch up quick: Fong Yue Ting was deported from the U.S. in 1893 under the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- A group of immigrants tried to block the deportation, taking the case to the Supreme Court.
- They failed, but the fact that it was a close vote blew Rivera's mind.
- "They got nearly half of the Supreme Court in 1893 to agree with them and say there should be no deportation in this country, that it was fundamentally unconstitutional," Rivera told Axios.
- So the filmmaker decided to make a movie about it, with a research assist by historian Lytle Hernández.
Context: Fong Yue Ting's case led to the creation of deportation as we currently understand it, Lytle Hernández told Axios.
- "There is no deportation in the Constitution; it had to be created over time," she said. "That's why Fong Yue Ting's case is so important, because it starts the laws around deportation and also defines deportation as one of the government's plenary powers."
- The U.S. has deported more than 50 million people since Fong Yue Ting, Lytle Hernández said.
Flashback: Lytle Hernández told Axios she was always very curious about the power dynamics surrounding the border and immigrants while growing up in La Jolla.
- She recalled seeing Border Patrol stop people on the street and on the trolleys.
- "It was really clear that they were racially profiling people," she said. "Even to me as a child, there was a certain demographic that they'd point at and ask questions of, and it made me really curious as a child, like, why is that OK?"
- Lytle Hernández became a history professor at UCLA and has written several books about the history of the border.
"Banishment" is part documentary, but also has actors dramatizing Fong Yue Ting's story.
What they're saying: The actors dream about the future in the film, reflecting how big Supreme Court cases often pave the way for the future of the country.
- "That realm of the future will be depicted as a little documentary vignette from today," Rivera told Axios. "So their dreams and nightmares are the world we're living in."
- These days, Rivera feels there are more nightmares than dreams.
- "But it's not over yet, and their dreams are still very much alive."
What's next: Lytle Hernández and Rivera spoke about "Banishment" at Bread & Salt on Friday, and the film will be out next year.
- For now, Lytle Hernández will keep speaking about the origins of deportation.
- "If you want to dismantle a machine, you have to know how the machine works and all of its different parts and pieces," she said.