This concept of “self-deportation” has come to the fore of the political debate recently due to the new law in Alabama (profiled in the radio show “This American Life” recently, for example) and references made by certain Republican candidates for the presidency. But it’s interesting that the term was not invented by the right, but rather by the left, in the form of satire: there was a group of Latino activists in LA who formed a sort of social-satire political campaign against California’s proposition 187 in mid the 1990’s. I would credit the term “self-deportation” to brilliant cartoonist and satirist Lalo Alcatraz (sample of his work below).
I’m intrigued by this way that satirical ideas become “real” ideas coopted by the opposite side in political debates. Notably, Colbert has been exploring this, in a sort of “push” approach with his conservative blowhard impersonation.
