ABSTRACT
Deportation for criminal conduct is generally described as a “collateral sanction.” Technically, this means that deportation is not regarded as a punishment within the criminal justice system. Therefore, those who are subject to it do not have the rights of criminal defendants. They are not “punished” by deportation, but are simply undergoing a civil or regulatory process within the immigration law system of the United States. To deportees and their families, of course, this distinction is no more persuasive than the phrase “collateral damage” is to Iraqi civilians who are killed or maimed by U.S. bombs. The harm is the same, however it is named. Moreover, the deficiency of the term collateral, when applied to deportation, is not only that it depreciates the harm. It also misleads us as to the nature of the system.
