Overview: migrant labor and contested public space.

• Date: 22 December 2008
• Published date: 22 December 2008

Editors

WHEN THE ISSUE OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS ARISES IN THE UNITED States, THE Mexican border dominates public discussion due to media depictions and an intense anti-immigrant lobby. How immigration policy and the tenor of this polarizing issue will change under the Obama administration is still unclear. President Obama's campaign promise to put millions of undocumented immigrants on the pathway to citizenship may be postponed until his second term, disappointing Latino leaders and immigration advocates. Early signs, according to Adalberto Aguirre, are that employer sanctions and work verification will be promoted, along with methods for border security that do not necessarily criminalize immigrants. However, economic crises often strengthen pressures to deport undocumented workers and to emphasize law enforcement over worker and human rights. As Adalberto Aguirre, Jr., and Jennifer K. Simmers show, the 700-mile fence Congress approved along the U.S.-Mexico border has become a monument in the built environment that shields politically acceptable behavior (e.g., U.S. citizens) from threats (e.g., an invasion of Mexican border crossers). Border crossers from Mexico into the United States are perceived as illegal or illegitimate. Thus conceived, a militarized border takes the form of National Guard postings in "Operation Jump Start," pilot-less...