The 1996 legislation targeted both undocumented and documented immigrants. Immigrants were eligible for deportation, faced penalties when crossing the border without documents, and oversaw the reinforcement of the southern border between Mexico and the United States. This research aims to provide different perspectives on the impacts of the 1996 legislation on immigrants’ lives. I will be focusing on two areas of impact towards immigrants’ lives: 1) the involvement of the criminal justice system in immigrants’ lives also known as “crimmigration” and 2) immigrant experience after 1996. When evaluating both areas, I will analyze the data of the number of immigrants criminalized after the 1996 legislation. I will evaluate prerecorded oral histories of undocumented and documented immigrants post-1996. Additionally, I will analyze California’s state officials’ responses to the 1996 legislation and determine if other states such as Texas followed the legislation. Expected results may consist of higher numbers of both undocumented and documented immigrants becoming eligible for deportation. Also, a higher number of immigrants are criminalized due to the expansion of aggravated felonies. It is important to listen to both undocumented and documented experiences because their voices are being silenced by a country that has one of the highest population of immigrants living within its borders.

The mid twentieth century saw the emergence of newly independent African nations, however the lack of economic independence allowed for global powers such as Britain, France, and the U.S. to maintain control over their land, labor and resources. In this era of neocolonialism, such global powers reshaped their relations with African nations as one concerned with development and humanitarian assistance. This study is concerned with the impact of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) in particular, which were a set of economic policies prescribed to African nations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a condition for receiving loans, positioned as a tool for furthering development. Prescribed with the hopes of reducing poverty and increasing development in ‘developing’ nations, SAPs enforced liberal policies which subsequently stunted the development of African industries. Through a comparative analysis of primary sources which illustrate the various impacts and responses to such policies across Sub-Saharan Africa, this study hopes to clarify the role of SAPs in perpetuating neocolonialism on the continent and examine local responses and resistance to the negative impact of SAPs on local economies. The aim is to highlight the uneven development inherent within the global capitalist system, as well as the forms of resistance which such intense unevenness inspires. In understanding the impact of neocolonialist practices such as SAPs on African nations, we can begin to understand the continent’s contemporary struggles as a product of various forms of exploitation.