Immigration Article of the Day: Mass Deportation Is Mass Disabling by Tania N. Valdez & Elizabeth Jordan

Kevin R. Johnson

11 Nov 2026 — 1 min read

Immigration Article of the Day: Mass Deportation Is Mass Disabling by Tania N. Valdez & Elizabeth Jordan, Yale Law Journal Forum (Nov. 11, 2026)

Abstract

The effects of the immigration-enforcement system on people with disabilities are readily apparent, significant, and longstanding. Yet, an aspect that is underacknowledged is how immigration-enforcement mechanisms—especially during particularly aggressive periods of enforcement—are tools of disablement. This Essay argues that the mass-deportation machine and the systems it uses to realize its agenda produce disability in affected immigrants, their families, and communities. We use federal statutory definitions of disability, the social model of disability, and a disability-justice framing to identify the sites of disability production in the mass-deportation system and expose underrecognized harms. With these frameworks, a case study, and a typology of the sites of disability production in the immigration system, we call for a reassessment of immigration policy and ongoing critical analysis of enforcement trends using a disability-justice framework.

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University of Maryland student held with mother after immigration check-in

No U.S. Government Opposition to Habeas Petitions?

ICE to Be in Crosshairs of New Democratic Congress

From the Bookshelves--Denial, Deterrence, and Disenchantment: Why Many Never Immigrate