A Beating Worse Than Death: Imagining and Contesting Violence in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Abstract

Between 1995 and 2005, it is conservatively estimated that over 3,600 
 migrants died while trying to cross clandestinely into the United States 
 from Mexico. Unsanctioned crossings of the U.S.-Mexico boundary have long been dangerous. But the number of deaths has increased significantly over the last several years. Despite the large and rapidly growing death toll, these fatalities have received little critical public scrutiny--especially 
 when compared with other acts of violence involving unauthorized immigrants and state authorities. In trying to ascertain why, this paper compares and contrasts the reaction to two incidents in southern California in early April 1996: the beating of two migrants by police officers, and the deaths of several migrants killed while fleeing the U.S. Border Patrol. This paper argues that the reasons for the unevenness in terms of response relate to hegemonic and interrelated notions regarding national territory, the "illegal" immigrant, and violence. These assumptions reflect and reproduce particular notions of security and rights that conflict with those of 
 migrant, and thus make it difficult to perceive and challenge the factors 
 ultimately responsible for the deaths.