About Amanda June Ramirez

She/her

Education: Bachelor of Science in American ethnic studies (May 2016)

McNair Project: Legacies of Settler Colonialism: Latinx Immigration and Attrition through Enforcement (2014)

Mentor: Tanya Gonzalez, Ph.D.

While the U.S. congress consistently fails to pass any variation of a comprehensive immigration reform policy, states have begun to move towards attrition through enforcement, or self-deportation, immigration policies. This essay explores the ways in which ideologies of settler colonialism are reflected in these state-based attrition through enforcement immigration policies. I reviewed a body of literature that discusses the structure of settler colonialism and U.S. immigration practices. In addition I chose the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (H.B. 56) as a case study. I collected data surrounding the passage and partial repeal of H.B. 56 and the response that the Latinx community had to its passage. I found that attrition through enforcement policies are not effective at decreasing the Latinx population but they are effective at creating the conditions for the exploitation of the Latinx population.