Join a talk hosted by the CMS Borders research group examining US deportations in Trump’s second presidency through an ontological security lens, and their impacts on states, individuals, and Pacific Island communities.
The deportation of non-citizens from the United States (U.S.) has emerged as a focus of Donald Trump’s second non-consecutive presidential term, marked by a swift and dramatic escalation in immigration enforcement measures. This talk examines the first six months of Trump’s second presidency through an ontological security studies lens, undertaking a multi-level, multi-actor analysis of US deportations across three levels: the deporting state, deported individuals, and receiving states. Trump’s administration framed expulsions as ‘essential’ to preserving the US’s domestic identity and stability; Pacific Islanders residing in the U.S. feared abrupt displacement and social dislocation; and Pacific Island states grappled with the return of individuals unfamiliar with local identity and societal norms. Deportation-induced insecurity prompted defensive reactions by all actors—heightening restrictive immigration policies in the US; legal action and concealment among affected individuals; and driving diplomatic negotiations by receiving states.
Dr. Henrietta McNeill-Stowers is a Research Fellow (Pacific Security, Geopolitics, Regionalism) in the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University (ANU). Her research focus is Pacific regional security and the security-migration nexus, particularly transnational crime, criminal deportations, border security, citizenship, and security cooperation. Henrietta holds a PhD from the ANU examining the securitization of criminal deportation to the Pacific Islands, particularly Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands, for which her thesis won the IASOC award for Best PhD Thesis/Dissertation in 2024. During her studies, she was a 2021-22 Fulbright scholar visiting the University of Hawai’i, UCLA, and Lewis and Clark Law School (Oregon).
