Thread by @adamsigoodman

I wrote about the saga of Rodolfo Lozoya, a WWII vet and long-time Chicago resident who, in 1957, found himself separated from his US citizen wife and children after authorities barred him from the country b/c of his alleged membership in the Communist Party.

Thread & article ⬇️

Lozoya was a steelworker and a trade union activist who blacklisted Hollywood director Herbert Biberman almost cast as one of the lead roles in his classic film Salt of the Earth.

The INS and FBI kept tabs on Lozoya for years. After officials learned, in 1957, that he would travel to Ciudad Juárez to visit his ailing mother, they sent word to El Paso and posted a lookout on the bridge. When Lozoya later tried to reenter the US, agents were waiting for him.

Lozoya’s case offers insights into the long history of family separation. It also points to the intertwined lives of citizens & noncitizens and to the fact that many core freedoms the Allies fought for never extended to people like Lozoya or to the 8 US citizens in his family.

A heart-wrenching series of letters between Rodolfo and his wife Consuelo reveal the significant physical, psychological, and material toll punitive immigration policies exacted on their relationship and on the family.

The case also sheds light on how immigrant rights groups, such as the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born and its regional branches, mobilized to defend people facing exclusion, denaturalization, and deportation in the middle of the 20th century.

I filed numerous FOIA requests to piece together this story. But DHS withheld or redacted 1/2 of the ~400 pages on Lozoya. The decision to censor this info 55 years later—and 30 years after his death—points to the Cold War’s legacy and to ongoing fears of radical politics today.

If you're interested in learning more, check out the @LaborOnline article below, as well as essential books by @rachelidatweets and @JuliaRoseKraut that informed my piece.

doi.org/10.1215/154767…