Life in the U.S.

We recently began a mini study on risks involved with living in the U.S. The goal is to try to see if people select their locations based on any foreseen knowledge of the quality of life where they are going. I did 17 short interviews one night and had some important insights into the ways in which the entrapment processes are working in the U.S. and what people are doing to avoid them.

The only person that had not heard of raids occurring in the U.S. was a young man that had never been to the U.S. before and had been trying to meet up with his father in New York City. It actually surprised me that, while migrants often know very little about the crossing experience prior to attempting it, they know much more about how to avoid risks within the U.S. Many of them insinuated having moved from a different area that was worse, having found a different U.S. city that offers more protection from deportation. Although this information is purely based on social networks and therefore relies on a mixture of information about the availability of work and the risks involved in living in that area. Understanding exactly how this relationship works will more require time and research, but I can explain a few of the insights into the various consequences of different risks to migrants. The most common fear raised by the people I interviewed (for this project, as well as with the other projects) was the constant threat of apprehension that would lead to deportation and therefore failure to earn enough money. This fear was manifested in concerns about the border patrol coming to immigrant communities to arrest you for being latino, the lack of a driver’s license so any driving infraction can result in an arrest and deportation, and having bosses that refuse to pay, or lower the wages, threatening to call the border patrol if the migrants do not accept the new terms.

A man named Gilberto was apprehended in Redding Pennsylvania when the border patrol went door to door in his all latino apartment complex, demanding identification. He was subsequently deported to Mexico and has tried several times to get back with no success even though his wife and children are still there.

The lack of driver’s licenses pose a specific threat to migrants because any roadblock or traffic citation has extreme consequences. A 44 year old man from Oaxaca told me that he never did anything but drive from work to home, and he was terrified each time. States such as New Mexico allow people without legal status to obtain drivers license, but the lack of profitable work in there probably detracts from it's generally attractive nature as a sanctuary state.

The inability to collect wages owed is a big problem for migrants. One man told me that he was owed $8,000 USD in back wages by an employer. He was injured on the job using a jackhammer to break up concrete and that boss refused to pay for his medical bills and withheld his wages. After another failed attempt to get back to his family in Oklahoma he is going to head back to Mexico where they will hopefully join him soon.

Other people mentioned the violence and the gangs that run the areas where they live in the U.S. They said that the assassins and drug dealers make them pay a toll for living there. It is important to note that the marginalization, vulnerability and violence associated with undocumented migration does not end at the border. It transcends space creating a complicated web of oppression that is interlaced with macro-economic policy.

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."