DEPORTED VETERANS
February 10–May 30, 2022
Foreign-born soldiers have served the United States since the Revolutionary War. The French Marquis de Lafayette, the German Friedrich von Steuben, and the West Indian Alexander Hamilton are just three examples of foreign-born soldiers who fought in George Washington’s Continental Army.
Today, the country has approximately 700,000 foreign-born veterans, 45,000 active members, and each year, 5,000 new immigrants join the military. As of 2018, 17 percent of those foreign-born veterans have not been naturalized.
These soldiers’ dedication to their country matches or surpasses the commitment of the native-born. Their honorable service, however, has been rewarded with dishonorable actions—denial of citizenship, unceremonious deportation, and hardships faced by the veterans and their families.
This exhibition seeks to create a visual space in which some of these deported veterans not only recover their denied citizenship but also expose the damage inflicted on them by unjust government policies. From Mexico to the Dominican Republic to England to Costa Rica, veterans proudly display the objects that confirm their American citizenship, from their uniform and flag to baseball and apple pie. They want to remind us that their struggle to gain citizen status is a struggle for social justice.
Today, the country has approximately 700,000 foreign-born veterans, 45,000 active members, and each year, 5,000 new immigrants join the military. As of 2018, 17 percent of those foreign-born veterans have not been naturalized.
These soldiers’ dedication to their country matches or surpasses the commitment of the native-born. Their honorable service, however, has been rewarded with dishonorable actions—denial of citizenship, unceremonious deportation, and hardships faced by the veterans and their families.
This exhibition seeks to create a visual space in which some of these deported veterans not only recover their denied citizenship but also expose the damage inflicted on them by unjust government policies. From Mexico to the Dominican Republic to England to Costa Rica, veterans proudly display the objects that confirm their American citizenship, from their uniform and flag to baseball and apple pie. They want to remind us that their struggle to gain citizen status is a struggle for social justice.