Present Absence In Dependency Law: The Erasure of Noncitizen Parents in the San Diego–Tijuana Region

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores how child welfare policy and contemporary US immigration enforcement come together to transform the immigrant parent into an absence that operates as a legal presence. International legal standards and US child welfare policy protect the right of a parent, regardless of citizenship status or country of residence, to participate fully in child welfare case proceedings and to maintain, or regain, custody of their children. However, restrictive immigration policy, intensified border enforcement, and a contemporary deportation regime have made the separation of immigrant parents and their children a prevalent problem within the US child welfare system, separating children from parents who would otherwise be considered fit. The production of legally absent parents is central to this process. Detention and deportation practices can make immigrant parents difficult to locate. This makes it more likely that an immigrant parent will be deemed absent, and thus declared to have legally abandoned their child, a determination that is necessary for child welfare officials to terminate parental rights. Drawing on ethnographic research in the San Diego–Tijuana region, this article examines the force of legal absence in these cases and the profound consequences this has for families.