controversial FBI informant who infiltrated and sent two protestors at the 2008 Republican national convention to jail, the article has limited text, but asserts that of illegal “thousands immigrants have overrun U.S. border security and their processing centers in Texas.” Publicity of this kind set off a complicated set of negotiations about how to handle this new influx of asylees. We argue that in order to understand the production of new policies and policy responses we must take a holistic approach to determine how diverse actors with distinct motives struggle for suitable outcomes. Central Americans have migrated to the United States since the late 1970s in significant numbers, driven by a toxic mix of civil war, genocide, violence, criminality, capitalist radical change, and economic vulnerability (for example, see Jonas and Rodríguez, 2015). While they use a variety of routes and hold or seek various legal statuses, the principle path has been through Mexico and then the land border at south Texas. Some apply for asylum when arriving in the United States, while others attempt to cross the borderlands to the U.S. interior without detection. While the basic migratory pattern has been long-standing, the numbers increased in late 2013, with a marked peak in summer 2014, and oscillating ups and downs since then. The composition and migration mode also has changed, with increased numbers of family groups (especially women with children) and unaccompanied minors presenting themselves to U.S. authorities and requesting asylum either at ports of entry or just inside the United States. So, while they are formally arrested, they are also initiating a legal immigration asylum case. This growth and change in Central American migration occurred side-by-side with a decline in Mexican unauthorized entries. Indeed, despite the increase in Central American migration, total U.S. southern border arrests have declined, reaching levels last seen in the early 1970s. But border immigration enforcement has continued, and in some ways grown.
controversial FBI informant who infiltrated and sent two protestors at the 2008 Republican national convention to jail, the article has limited text, but asserts that “thousands of illegal immigrants have overrun U.S. border security and their processing centers in Texas.” Publicity of this kind set off a complicated set of negotiations about how to handle this new influx of asylees. We argue that in order to understand the production of new policies and policy responses we must take a holistic approach to determine how diverse actors with distinct motives struggle for suitable outcomes. Central Americans have migrated to the United States since the late 1970s in significant numbers, driven by a toxic mix of civil war, genocide, violence, criminality, capitalist radical change, and economic vulnerability (for example, see Jonas and Rodríguez, 2015). While they use a variety of routes and hold or seek various legal statuses, the principle path has been through Mexico and then the land border at south Texas. Some apply for asylum when arriving in the United States, while others attempt to cross the borderlands to the U.S. interior without detection. While the basic migratory pattern has been long-standing, the numbers increased in late 2013, with a marked peak in summer 2014, and oscillating ups and downs since then. The composition and migration mode also has changed, with increased numbers of family groups (especially women with children) and unaccompanied minors presenting themselves to U.S. authorities and requesting asylum either at ports of entry or just inside the United States. So, while they are formally arrested, they are also initiating a legal immigration asylum case. This growth and change in Central American migration occurred side-by-side with a decline in Mexican unauthorized entries. Indeed, despite the increase in Central American migration, total U.S. southern border arrests have declined, reaching levels last seen in the early 1970s. But border immigration enforcement has continued, and in some ways grown.
South%20Texas%207-18-16.docx