Immigration Article of the Day: Speculative Immigration Policy by Matthew Boaz 

Speculative Immigration Policy by Matthew Boaz 

Abstract

This Article considers how speculative fiction was wielded by the Trump administration to implement destructive U.S. immigration policy. It analyzes the thematic elements from a particular apocalyptic novel, traces those themes through actual policy implemented by the president, and considers the harm effected by such policies. This Article proposes that the harmful outcomes are not due to the use of speculative fiction, but rather the failure to consider the speculative voices of those who have been historically marginalized within the U.S. This Article argues that alternative speculative visions could serve as a platform for radical imagination about future U.S. immigration policies. In doing so, it offers a safe space for policymakers and others to consider ideas that might be far outside their normal political or social circles. For instance, speculative fiction creates an opportunity to engage with ideas that might otherwise be ‘third rails,’ such as the abolition of various policing forces, critiques of sovereignty, and open borders. Speculative fiction can, therefore, provide a secure realm within which one can be free to explore ideas that they might otherwise feel prohibited from considering. Here, this Article proposes that engaging with speculative fiction written by authors from marginalized backgrounds can help to shift both individual and institutional perceptions about what is possible.

First, this Article analyzes the use of Jean Raspail’s “The Camp of the Saints” by the Trump administration as an ideological foundation for its harmful immigration policies. This xenophobic apocalyptic speculative fiction novel envisions the demise of Western civilization at the hands of mass migration. Second, this Article promotes the idea that speculative fiction can be useful and generative for imagining new immigration policies in the U.S. Specifically, this Article claims that the experience of the coronavirus epidemic created a nation-wide (if not world-wide) sense of apocalypse. Such a collective experience provides an opportunity for universal reconsideration of historical policy norms, particularly those involving immigration. Last, this Article notes that it is essential that these alternative visions be sourced from “oppositional storytellers,” to use Richard Delgado’s phrase. Examples abound: W.E.B. DuBois’ “The Comet,” the legal scholar Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders” and other, more literary authors, such as Octavia Butler. This Article offers additional visions, such as Waubgeshig Rice’s “Moon of the Crusted Snow” and Omar El Akkad’s “American War” as examples for reframing conceptions of ‘apocalypse’ from the viewpoint of the marginalized in Western culture. This Article concludes that, while notions of abolition and other taboo progressive policy proposals may seem apocalyptic to some, this fear is based in fear of the unknown. By crafting specific speculative visions, these authors (and others) can make clear that such radical imagination in crafting humane policies can produce a knowable future that is both manifest and necessary.

KJ