Prolonged Deportable Statuses of Southeast Asians in the United States

Prolonged deportable status occurs when an immigrant receives a deportation order but is not imminently removed. The empirical case focuses on Southeast Asian noncitizens who received removal orders following a criminal conviction but are not imminently deported due, in part, to their previously recognized refugee status. This study argues that their de-facto stateless condition constitutes permanent exclusion. Based on 10 interviews with SEA noncitizens and families in Oakland and Sacramento, California, this study finds that their legal precarity is characterized by immigration check-ins, institutional avoidance, negative impacts on mixed-status families, and that co-ethnic organizations serve as a primary support structure.