respuestas published

Y TU,
¿Cuando
vuelves?
BY
ANDREA
ALVAREZ
Nadie se quiere ir. Se van por necesidad.
Variations of this saying are often heard when we ask, “Who would leave behind the land of their ancestors for the
capitalist North American monster?” It is devastating push factors that force many to leave behind their home
countries in search of promising socioeconomic opportunities in the U.S. Although many leave hoping to someday
return to the lives and loved ones left behind, these reunions often take years, decades, or in some cases, never
occur. For many undocumented migrants, returning to their home countries becomes a distant wish that cannot be
fulfilled. While it is possible to leave the country, re-entering is often a life-threatening gamble where years of work
and sacrifices are at risk of being lost. In past decades, it was possible for migrants from Latin America to
temporarily enter the U.S. for work and return to their home countries after each work season concluded. Over time,
however, tougher immigration laws and the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border forced temporary migration to
become permanent. The intensification of immigration laws not only made the journey into the country more
difficult and dangerous but also brought forth the illegalization of migrants. Consequently, “illegality”
has served to invisibilize and exclude migrants from U.S. society, keeping them socioeconomically and
racially subordinate. 1
According to anthropologist and scholar of migration and race, Nicholas De Genova, “immigration
laws serve as instruments to supply and refine the parameters of both discipline and coercion.” 2
As a result of the illegalization of migrants, migrant labor is kept cheap, expendable, and
exploitable through what De Genova describes as “labor subordination.” However, illegalization
is not the sole reason for the commodification of undocumented migrant labor and their
forced erasure. Instead, it is deportability” as a consequence of illegalization that keeps many
undocumented migrants subjugated to exploitative working environments. 3 Left with virtually
no other employment options, migrants will often endure long shifts of arduous physical
labor in order to support themselves and their families in the U.S. and back home.
Labor migrations are patterned, meaning they are most often produced from the same
countries for a number of similar reasons, such as economic and/or political instability. 4
Therefore, the label of “illegal” is not only present in the workplace but, as described by
De Genova, “materializes around [the undocumented] wherever they go.” 5
The stigma around “illegality” has led to the racialization of migrants, namely Mexicans
and all other Latines, as “illegals” or “illegal aliens,” regardless of their immigration and
citizenship status. 6 Consequently, the “visual of illegality” created through the
racialization of migrants creates a divide between those that “belong” in the country and
the outsiders that should be “sent back.” 7
Visual by Melissa Morales
6
1 Nicholas P. De Genova. “Migrant ‘Illegality’ and Deportability in Everyday Life.”Annual
Review of Anthropology, vol. 31, 2002, pp. 419–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132887.
2 Nicholas P. De Genova
3 Nicholas P. De Genova
4 Roy, Ananya. Public Affairs 110. May 2023. University of California, Los Angeles. Lecture.
5 Nicholas P. De Genova
6 Nicholas P. De Genova
7 Katarzyna Marciniak (2013) “Legal/Illegal: Protesting Citizenship in Fortress America.” Citizenship Studies 12 (2): 260–277.