internal deportation

Definition of internal deportation

Further reading

Deportation can also happen within a state, when (for example) an individual or a group of people is forcibly resettled to a different part of the country. If ethnic groups are affected by this, it may also be referred to as population transfer. The rationale is often that these groups might assist the enemy in war or insurrection. For example, the American state of Georgia deported 400 female mill workers during the Civil War on the suspicion they were Northern sympathizers.

During World War II, Volga Germans, Chechens, Crimean Tatars and others in the Soviet Union were deported by Joseph Stalin (see Population transfer in the Soviet Union), with some estimating the number of deaths from the deportation to be as high as 1 in 3. The European Parliament recognized this as an act of genocide on February 26, 2004. Many Japanese and Japanese Americans on the West Coast, as well as other Italian American and German American families were forcibly resettled in internment camps inside the United States of America by President Franklin Roosevelt.

In the 19th century, the federal government of the United States (particularly during the administration of President Andrew Jackson) deported numerous Native American tribes. The most infamous of these deportations became known as the Trail of Tears. American state and local authorities also practiced deportation of undesirables, criminals, union organizers, and others. In the late 19th and early 20th century, deportation of union members and labor leaders was not uncommon during strikes or labor disputes. For an example, see the Bisbee Deportation.