Abuse of Migrants on the US-Mexico Border: frustration, deprivation and impunity.

Keywords: criminalization, border patrol, human rights, militarization, US-Mexico border, police brutality, socioeconomics
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Violence against migrants by US border patrol is a pervasive and well-documented human rights problem. This issue is compounded by a legal system that undermines the rights of migrants and lacks legal redress. Supreme Court rulings such as Hernandez v. Mesa and other policies mean that human rights for migrants and non-citizens at the US border have all but evaporated. However, violence and legal issues are not the only problems persistent in border towns. Socioeconomic stratification, social unrest, rampant militarization, social isolation of agents, poverty, and racial/ethnic power dynamics are all issues in these areas. These issues raise questions as to which factors contribute to violence by border patrol.

Using theories of relative deprivation, frustration-aggression, and scapegoating, this paper aims to examine the socioeconomic and legal factors that may contribute to or sustain the practice of abuse of migrants by border patrol agents. It is based upon research conducted in 2020-2021 using statistics, news reports, scholarly works, and legislation regarding the border.

This paper finds that legal hyper-criminalization and militarization at the border contribute to violence against migrants. Such hyper-criminalization has multiple legal and practical implications for migrants, endangering their rights on several levels. Certain laws and policies that disproportionately target Southern border crossers compound this issue. This research also finds that socioeconomic factors play a coercive role in recruitment to border patrol. Lastly, multiple frustration factors are present within border patrol practices which could be encouraging aggression by agents.