16TH INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE

DEPORTEES AND FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND

PONTA DELGADASEPTEMBER, 2011

The present study is the result of interviews:

• Conducted with 10 deportees who did not go through the support system offered by entities that shelter deportees

• Eight are men and 2 are women• The men’s age varied between 33 and 55• The women were 35 e 52 years old.

• The men have lived in the northern coast of the island of S. Miguel for an average of 18 years

• The women arrived at 8 and 5 years ago• Only one men came from Toronto, Canada.

The remaining seven came the U.S. – MA, RI and CA.

• The two women were deported from the U.S.

Profile of the men’s group

• From the eight men, half had relatives in S. Miguel. However, only three were received by their families. One maintains a good relationship with the family in the Azores.

• Two were received by their families, but were soon abandoned or left themselves due to alcohol abuse and family conflicts.

• The four men who did not have family in S. Miguel stayed living on their own from the beginning in: rented houses in Ponta Delgada (2); in Livramento (1) and in Ribeira Grande (1). All of them received support and form their families in Canada and in the U.S. in the first 3-4 years.

• From the eight men, five have permanent and stable employment. They work for the City Hall, in a milk factory; in a self-owned cattle business; in a coffee shop; and as security in a night club.

• Three get paid by the work day: construction painter, auto mechanic and agricultural land worker.

• Four men remarried, had children in S. Miguel, and have their own house. All eight men left a wife and children in the U.S.

• One has a partner with 3 children. • The remaining three don’t have a wife or stable

partner. They state to be “single”, despite two of them left wife and children living in the U.S.

• Five left the jail house directly to the airport. • Two received departure orders from a court.• One was caught at home and immediately

deported to the country of origin.

• From the eight men, two continue to have alcohol problems despite rehab treatments.

• One was already arrested in the island due to drug trafficking and assault with a dog of a dangerous breed.

• The reasons for their return to the Azores were: Driving while Intoxicated; assault with armed robbery; sexual assault; destruction of private property; domestic violence; drug trafficking and use; and illegal residence in the country.

• One men from Canada and another one from the U.S. state they were unjustly accused of domestic violence by their women.

• The majority of men had a combination of crimes or offenses which justified the deportation.

Profiles of two women

• The two women had distant relatives who received them in their houses in the towns in the northern part of the island.

• After a month, one of them started living with a partner, also a deportee, with a stable life, fro whom she has two children. She is a home-maker and helps her husband in a locksmith store when he needs it. The reason for deportation was homicide attempt of her abusive husband.

• The other woman still lives with an elderly aunt. She was married in the U.S., mother of two daughters who stayed under the custody of their father. Sha has not remarried in the Azores, she doesn’t have a partner, but has a daughter. The father doen’t live with her, but pays child support. Rason for deportation: drug trafficking and assault.

• Cuurently, neither women have drug use or abuse problems.

• From all eight deportees, one has a College degree; two completed high school, three have 5th, 7th e o 8th grade completed. The remaing two didn’t attend school in the U.S. They have 4th grade completed in Portugal.

• The two women: one completed high-school and the other one 7th grade.

THE MAIN WORRIES EXPRESSED BY DEPORTEES INTHEIR RETURN TO THE

AZORES:

- The disruption caused in the family left in the host countries (children, parents, brothers, women / partners)

- Financial difficulties in the Azores- Difficulty in finding a job in the Azores- Target discrimination by some people who

know or suspect they are deportees

Difficulties experienced in the Azores- Inability to communicate in Portuguese

- Lack of driver’s license and difficulty in taking it in Portuguese

- Miss the routine, the experiences in the host country

- The lack of friends in adolescence and youth- The lack of American sports (baseball, socer) for

men. Women miss the shopping and going to the hairdresser, manicure.

- The lack of food, flavors

• Two of the men did not want to talk about the difficulties, because they consider living here better than ever lived in the U.S.

• They said they would not go to the U.S. even if they could be with their children.

• Interestingly these two men have very little contact with the families left in the host country.

The families left behind are the main problem

• Those who have left children and wife / husband in the U.S. speak of missing children -- young adults now.

• Little or none talk with their wife/ husband in the host country, since they already remade her life around here.

• Two men are already grandparents and speak with regret of never having picked up their grandchildren in her arms.

• All miss their parents whom they left behind. Even those who have cut ties with the parents, or those who stopped talking to them just before leaving for the Azores (two men, one woman).

• All families have stories, but not all speak about them. Close family members, friends and distant relatives establish contacts that bring family news to the Azores.

• Mothers and older sisters are the elements with whom the deportees, with family break-ups, talk more.

• Of the eight deportees, five use the phone. One uses Skype to talk with parents and children left in the U.S.

• The other two cut ties with all the family members and do not care for their family.

• The woman who cut ties with her family, receives information from her children by a former sister in law

The respondent’s opinion

• The quality and frequency of contacts depends largely on the family disruption and conflicts before departure.

• Situations involving prison, systematic theft even in the family (to buy drugs), trouble with the police, public exposure of the families led to a too large disruption, even before the return.

• Especially brothers (men) and the younger sisters are the worst elements dealing with deportation, doing everything to cut relations with the deportee.

• Half the group believes that parents saw deportation saw as the only way to discipline their sons and daughters and save them "from bad habits and bad company"

• All the deportees feel sorry for the problems caused to their families, but three (two men and one woman) accused the father of deviant behavior when they were growing up.

• These fathers were abusive, exercising parental authority with violence, and the mothers were submissive and miserable.

• The family environment of three deportees was bad, with absences of parents, frequent episodes of violence against the mother and children.

• One parent was also deported.

• Five deportees accused their families from deportation because of the hidden children who were not American (2), naturalized and not included children (1), never spoke to the children that they needed to become naturalized, despite a Legal Permanent Residency Card (2).

• Of these five, all thought they were Americans. One of them even served in the Vietnam War.

General Conclusions

• In all cases of deportation, there are injuries, resentments, grievances against the family as a whole or against particular elements.The family, despite the absence and lack of physical contact in some cases continues to be a reference and the subject of conversation.

Addressing this problem by its origin• The Regional Department for the Communities

developed the LEGAL Program – Legalization Effort of the Government of the Azores that aims to inform and educate Azorean families about the need of naturalization before any crime, any charge, any problem with the police or court.

• Thanksgiving Dinner for deportees and returnees.

• Between two languages project / English books