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Abstract
Immigration has been a focal point of acrimonious politics in the United States, with activist groups advocating increased control over immigration taking a major role in shaping public debate. Some groups have moved beyond advocacy of their position to a form of active citizenship that adopts state enforcement functions as their own through border patrol operations in the face of perceived state inaction. This article examines the understandings of nation, sovereignty, and citizenship mobilized by these groups. Underlying the current debate over immigration are at least two different visions of national identity and citizenship. Neo-liberal changes in citizenship and sovereignty are challenged by border protection activists in their defense of the state and national sovereignty in the name of the law.
Acknowledgements
The author is deeply indebted to Melissa Johnson and Brandt Petersen for their generous, insightful, and encouraging readings of early (and very rough) drafts of this article. Kate Greene generously read a later version and Julie Reid helped improve the final version with her comments and observations. The author is also grateful for the equally discerning comments of the two anonymous reviewers.
Notes
1. Minutemen American Defense has since undergone its own tribulations, as its national director, Shawna Forde, was accused of murder in 2009.
2. Breaks between the organizations are often accompanied by disclaimers of association on the websites in order to avoid public association with discredited individuals. For a history of these groups and their relationships see Navarro (Citation2009).
3. On the other hand, the minutemen consider the SPLC as radical activists and even a “hate group”. The San Diego Minutemen list it as an “Anti-American Hate Group” on their website, for example.
4. FAIR was founded in 1979 and is one of the first immigration control organizations of the latter half of the twentieth century. Social Contract Press is a US publisher that publishes population control and immigration reduction articles and books.
5. Minuteman Project website. http://www.minutemanproject.com/aboutmmp.html (accessed May 26, 2005).
6. www.minutemanhq.com/project/feedback/feedback_pro.html (accessed June 13, 2005).
7. Obviously it is impossible to know who left this message or comments left on other websites. So it is not possible to say whether the people responsible for either this message or comments cited elsewhere in this article belong to a border protection activist group. However, they do reflect the perspectives of a contingent of the population that support organizations like the minutemen.
8. www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Audio/Dec806HateCall.mp3.(accessed December 9, 2006).
9. I know of no study on the composition of the minuteman organizations. However, studies of militia movements of the 1990 show that membership can be explained as a reaction to the effects of economic restructuring (Akins Citation1998; van Dyke and Soule Citation2002). The militias of the minutemen organizations are both part of a long tradition of popular militia organizing in the United States. The groups considered in this article differ from the militias of the 1990s because they do not target the government.
10. The discourse of the movement often attributes racism (against whites) to their opponents. It is certain that participants are probably unlikely to consider themselves racist and some minorities, including Latinos, participate in the border protection organizations.
11. For a copy of this email message and refutations of its claims, see “Where your taxes go” on Snopes.com. www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp (accessed March 30, 2007).
12. In contrast, a narrative of national identity focused on the “American Dream” does permit a form of American identity that is not dependent on legal status, since an undocumented immigrant may embody the best of those values and aspirations associated with the growth of the nation and national character.
13. MCDC website. http://www.minutemanhq.com/bf/owners.php (accessed June 13, 2005).
14. There are 66,000 work visas for workers who are neither in agriculture or specialized fields per year, with one-half allocated to each half of the fiscal year.
15. I first read this account on the Minuteman Project website in June 2005. It is no longer posted there, but is on the site referenced in the bibliography.
16. In this example, the nation is also gendered feminine and the activists play out the masculine role of protecting and defending her.
17. http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/sop.php (accessed May 8, 2008).
18. The chilling metaphor of migrant hunting is found elsewhere. For example, in 2007 student groups on some college campuses, including the Campus Republicans of New York University, sponsored an activity called “Find the Illegal Immigrant” in which students designated as border patrol agents attempted to capture other students wearing tags identifying them as “illegals”. Similarly, there is a computer game called “Border Patrol” that made the news in that same year. In this game “there is one simple objective, keep them out … at any cost” (http://nerdnirvana.org/g4m3s/borderpatrol.htm). The characters to be kept out are “Mexican Nationalist”, “Drug Smuggler”, and “Breeder”.
19. Although it sounds official, the American Border Patrol is not a part of the US government, but rather another civil-sector, border protection activist organization.
20. The page also has images from their “remotely operated thermal imaging camera” and a “bordercam”, which will let you watch “SBIs” (Suspected Border Intruders) enter the United States in real time. On that website you can purchase, for $15.95, an official shoulder patch of the American Border Patrol Tactical Operations Unit. They have a “Border Hawk UAV” (unmanned aerial vehicle) with GPS and infrared camera to fly over the border. Not all of the organizations are this militaristic, however.
21. http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/aboutus.php (accessed May 8, 2008).
22. http://www.campominutemen.com/who.aspx (accessed March 8, 2007).
23. One place to access a copy of this email is on Snopes.com, the urban legends reference page. www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/parkland.asp.
24. http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/sop.php (accessed May 8, 2008).
25. http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/sop.php (accessed May 8, 2008).
26. http://www.minutemanproject.com (accessed March 28, 2009).
27. Note, however, that this quote begins with a criticism of excessive love of wealth, and as such might be construed as a condemnation of neo-liberal, associated with what is known as conservative in the United States, economic policies.