Assembling a visa requirement against the Mexican ‘wave’: migrant illegalization, policy and affective ‘crises’ in Canada

Abstract

Using the example of a 2009 visa requirement imposed onto Mexican nationals travelling to Canada, this paper frames migrant illegalization as an assemblage that brings together transnational connections, discursive and affective productions, modes of racialization and migrant negotiations. More specifically, the paper maps the events leading to the crafting of the visa requirement and the ensemble of stakeholders – Canadian immigration officials, politicians and business representatives, the Mexican and American governments and Mexican migrants –who responded to it. Through that analysis, the paper argues that migrant illegalization is not always a consistent or predictable set of practices, processes and actors, but instead an often contradictory assemblage of actions and reactions dependent on the social and political context.

Keywords:

• assemblage
• transnational
• migrant illegalization
• affective epidemics
• race
• discourse

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions, as well as Francisco Villegas, Patricia Landolt, Kari Dehli and Roland Sintos Coloma.

Notes

1. Some examples include the Bracero programme between the USA and Mexico, NAFTA and the Seasonal Agricultural Worker's Program in Canada.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paloma E. Villegas

PALOMA E. VILLEGAS is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE/University of Toronto.