Immigration Article of the Day: The Geography of Border Militarization: Violence, Death and Health in Mexico and the United States
The Geography of Border Militarization: Violence, Death and Health in Mexico and the United States by Jeremy Slack (University of Texas at El Paso), Daniel E. Martinez (George Washington University), Alison Elizabeth Lee (University of the Americas), Puebla Scott Whiteford (University of Arizona). March 1, 2016 Journal of Latin American Geography, 15 (1), 2016
Abstract: Despite proposed increases in spending on personnel and equipment for border enforcement, the complex geography of border militarization and the violence it produces require further examination. We take a geographical perspective to determine the role of violence in both its official forms, such as the incarceration and punishments experienced by undocumented migrants, as well as through abuses and violence perpetrated by agents in shaping border and immigration enforcement. By drawing on the Migrant Border Crossing Study (MBCS), which is a unique data source based on 1,110 surveys of a random sample of deportees, as well as research with family members and return migrants in Puebla, Mexico, we provide an innovative and robust account of the geography of violence and migration. Identifying regional variation allows us to see the priorities and strategic use of violence in certain areas as part of enforcement practice. We assert that understanding the role of violence allows us to explain the prevalence of various forms of abuse, as well as the role of abuse in border enforcement strategies, not as a side effect, but as elemental to the current militarized strategies.
KJ