Ethno-Racial Profiling and State Violence in a Southwest Barrio

Abstract

This study, carried out in a barrio neighborhood near the U.S.-Mexican border, uses a structural violence perspective to understand the extent of and individual determinants of mistreatment of residents by immigration authorities. Results indicate that barrio residents are more likely than the U.S. population in general to experience mistreatment at the hands of state authorities. Multivariate analyses indicate that authorities dole out mistreatment especially to people who appear Mexican. Educated Latinos are also frequent targets of mistreatment, and being a native-born or naturalized U.S. citizen offers no protection. These results suggest an institutional pattern of state violence in barrios structured more by racism and nativism than by immigration status.