Violence Here and Violence There: How Compound Violence Drives Undocumented Mexicans’ Migration to and Settlement in the United States

Abstract

Contemporary Mexican migration to the United States is conventionally interpreted as voluntary economic migration, which obscures violence as a driver of migration and settlement. This shortcoming reflects the post-World War II distinction between voluntary and forced border crossers. With interviews from 145 undocumented Mexican adults in the US, we examine experiences of violence across communities of origin, transit, and destination. We develop the theoretical framework of compound violence, conceptualizing that an arc of physical, legal, and anticipatory violence contributes to migration decisions and permanent settlement. This study offers an updated, more holistic account of US-Mexico migration flows and complicates the voluntary-forced migration binary.

Keywords:

• Violence
• voluntary migration
• forced migration
• undocumented migration
• settlement
• Mexico
• United States

Notes

1 We occasionally scramble details to avoid identifying respondents. Direct quotes are verbatim. The authors translated quotes from Spanish to English.

2 Here, Karla references the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in Iguala, Guerrero on September 26, 2014. Police officers, the Mexican army, elected officials, and organized cartels have all been implicated in the act, which is emblematic of violence, corruption, and injustice in Mexico.