Medical deportation is the forced removal of ill or severely injured migrants to other nations. It is unregulated and illegal—and also standard practice for many hospitals in the United States. This practice persists due to public charge policy in US immigration law, a political classification used to exclude or deport immigrants perceived to be or to have the possibility of becoming a burden on the state. In this book, Lisa Sun-Hee Park shows how the "burdensome migrant" is produced through a powerful racializing narrative that justifies punishing legislation against migrants and facilitates an internalized sense of indebtedness among immigrants themselves.These forced removals are nearly impossible to track, as hospitals leverage their administrative discretion to deport immigrants, including those with legal documentation. As recent legislative decisions create a heightened neoliberal mantra of personal responsibility, immigrant access to healthcare becomes all the more tenuous, overshadowed by the narrative that caring for racialized immigrants comes at the cost of caring for citizens who actually deserve it. This timely book exposes, for the first time, how this phenomenon happens in plain sight, yet is obscured by technical language and the ostensibly neutral framework of medical care.
