"If you summon the fear, the fear beats you": The illegalization of migrant workers and its effect on their subjectivities

• Main Author: Alejandra Aquino Moreschi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Autonoma de Baja California 2015-07-01
• Series: Estudios Fronterizos
• Subjects: Migración internacional, políticas de control, ilegalización, deportabilidad, subjetividades, etnografía
• Online Access: http://ref.uabc.mx/ojs/index.php/ref/article/view/519

<p>Through ethnographic research conducted in California and Mississippi (2005-2006, 2011 and 2013), I explore the ways in which the illegalization of migrants via immigration laws and other enforcement practices impacts the lives and subjectivities of migrants from Oaxaca and Chiapas who have been denied the possibility of becoming legal United States residents. The study concludes that the “deportation regime,” through a series of laws and control techniques, produces both subjectivities marked by fear and practices of resistance based on solidarity, resourcefulness, courage, and fortitude among migrants who challenge the deportation regime on a daily basis and subvert the subjectivities imposed on them.</p>