Video Project Sheds More Light on 'Humanizing Deportation' Project

The digital storytelling project Humanizing Deportation/Humanizando la Deportación sheds light on hundreds of personal migrant stories that demonstrate the effects of deportation and heightened border security. Robert Irwin, a professor of Spanish, has been working on the community-based project since 2016.

Irwin and teams of graduate students, as well as collaborators from several Mexican institutions, led fieldwork and documentation throughout Mexico and California, producing hundreds of personal stories. In addition, videographers from UC Davis captured Irwin and his team in action on one of their trips to northern Mexico. The resulting documentary delves into migrants’ lives and illustrates the continuing consequences of changes to immigration policy within the United States and Mexico.

— Jeffrey Day, content strategist in the College of Letters and Science