They treat us like animals...

(Photo by David McNew, Getty Images)

There are many strange things that stand out when studying undocumented migration. One in particular is the prevalence of animal nicknames related to migration. These animal metaphors give an important insight into the dehumanizing effect of the undocumented experience. The vocabulary is used to rationalize treating migrants as less than human. However, this language is not relegated to those that make their living off migrants, on the contrary it is even more prevalent among migrants themselves, showing that they rationalize the abuse they suffer (I am not going to dwell on Bourdieu here, but Habitus and Symbolic Violence are excellent theories that speak to this phenomenon.) By understanding how animal vocabulary is used, it shows how central dehumanization has become to the terminology that surrounds unauthorized migration.

Traditionally called coyotes for their trickster nature and the way they are likely to trick migrants, the guides are also frequently called polleros - someone who works with chicken, usually cooking or killing them. Since the guide is the pollero then the migrants are often referred to as the pollos, or pollitos - the chickens, or chicks. Both nicknames, the coyote and the pollero refer to something that kills and even consumes chickens. Moreover, the terminology used for recruiting migrants to cross is often described with words such as grabbing "agarrando", catching "capturando" or even more disconcerting, "estan vendiendo/comprando los pollos" - "they are selling/buying chickens" used to explain when one guide is selling or buying migrants from another guide. Yet another epithet for migrants that is frequently heard is "pollos asados" - "roasted chickens." This is usually used by border residents to mock groups of people that have been repatriated to Mexico. Because of their dark clothes, and sunburned skin migrants are easily identifiable. Moreover, most Sonorans are fair skinned and contrast markedly with Mexicans from the south. This racist term separates and rationalizes the treatment suffered by fellow countrymen that arrive, tired and destitute on the streets of an unknown city. There is a great deal of animosity against migrants by residents of the border that see them as a danger and a nuisance.

Proceeding along the journey, there is the danger of running into bandits, usually known as bajadores, but are also frequently called rateros, translated as ratter, the word used to describe any breed of terrier used to hunt rats (as best as I can tell). These rateros prey on the migrants and threaten them, often with guns called "cuernos de chivo," literally, "goats horns." In reality they are AK - 47s and the nickname, cuernos de chivo was given becuase of the shape of the handle and magazine.

Yet another border animal is the burro or burrero - pack mule. These are the drug runners that carry large backpacks of marijuana into the U.S. The majority of these people are former migrants that are willing to risk involvement in the drug trade to defray the cost of crossing.

When migrants are apprehended by the border patrol or "migra", they are put into converted trucks known as "perreras" - or dog catcher trucks. I have seen this translated as kennel (Nunez Heyman 2007), but it is more accurately described as dog catcher trucks. They function the same way, capturing migrants like stray dogs and putting them in a cage in the back. The border patrol uses flatbed pickup trucks with a cage in back designed to hold migrants. (See photo) I have heard accounts of up to 12 people being put in back. While the back is climate controlled, I often hear more complaints about temperature when migrants are transported in the perreras. One young man told me that when they complained about the heat, the agents turned the heat all the way up to the maximum. He said that he almost passed out before they arrived at the processing center.

As far as I can tell, the nickname perrera, was formulated from by the migrants themselves. I have asked dozens of people whether or not they have heard the border patrol agents refer to their trucks as perreras, and no one has. This suggests that the nickname is a reaction to the experience of being treated like an animal, like a dog. This dehumanizing treatment is a fundamental part of the border crossing experience. People live in fear, knowing that they have limited human rights. They do not have the power to denounce those that have wronged them. They are not able to stand up for what is right because every moment they lose is less money for their family, less chances of getting that job, and a greater likelihood that they will run across someone that will make them pay for not knowing their place. A 50 year old man named Jesus' eyes began to water as he informed me that he wanted to denounce his guide. They had come across a woman that had foam coming out of her mouth due to dehydration and even though none of them had any water either, he wanted to stop and try to help her but the guide would not let them. Jesus knew that if he had told the authorities who the coyote was, he would be in a lot of danger when he got back to the Mexico. Not being able to give that testimony, living in fear of reprisal is a huge part of being undocumented. Even the while they are living in the U.S. there is constant fear of "redadas" or round ups. These are the workplace raids where border patrol checks documents and repatriates people to Mexico that are working illegally. The term redada is used frequently for cattle round-ups, yet another example of how people become animals in the terms of undocumented immigration.

Nowhere is the treatment more dehumanizing than in Operation Streamline, the mass trials. People are rounded up, chained and sent to sit on benches like rows of cattle. A 23 year old man named Alejandro that had made his first attempt to cross, remarked to me, "Nos traten como animales" - "they treat us like animals. All I wanted to do is work and support my family and they treat me like I am not even human."