Medical Deportation in the United States as an Extension of State Sovereignty: Immigration Enforcement, State Surveillance and Migrant Health

Abstract


 
 
 Although the right to health is recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the most fundamental rights of every human being, migrants encounter particular barriers in accessing health services and attaining adequate health states. There exists an interconnection between access to healthcare and precarious migrant statuses that put migrants at risk of being deported when seeking medical treatment. Medical deportation—also called medical repatriation—refers to the extralegal practice of forcibly removing immigrant and migrant patients to their country of origin to avoid the burden of costly hospital care. This analytical essay will investigate the logics and mechanisms behind medical deportation in the United States which facilitate the state’s production of sovereignty through the control and surveillance of migratory populations. This knowledge will be utilized to understand the barriers faced by irregular im/ migrant populations in seeking medical care and the implications of transnational labour migration and medical deportation on migrant health. Not only do irregular im/migrants face the risk of deportation when seeking medical care, shaping their health-seeking behaviours, but they are also commonly positioned in undesirable work situations that heighten their vulnerability to health risks. Moreover, the act of medical deportation neglects to consider an im/migrant’s ability to access adequate healthcare within their ‘home’ country, further placing im/migrants in precarious health circumstances.