Throughout its immigration history, the US governments have used different narratives to deport immigrants who they don’t want. In the 1930’s, under American immigration law, if someone was a non-US citizen and that person was a member of the communist party, he/she could be deported as it was the case of Harry Bridges, who was put into deportations proceedings because of his ideology.
Harry Bridges was an immigrant and a longshoreman who led a general strike in San Francisco in 1934. He also inspired dockworkers strikes up and down the western coast of the United States. The government considered him such a threat that spent decades trying to deport him, and as a result of this process, many dramatic changes were made to the country’s immigration system.
Guest: Peter Afrasiabi is an Intellectual Property and Entertainment lawyer and a Faculty member at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. He is Director of the Appellate Litigation Clinic at the University of California Irvine, School of Law. He is the author of the book Burning Bridges: America’s 20-Year Crusade To Deport Labor Leader Harry Bridges.