“They’ll take your house, your car, your papers”: A historical and ethnographic (re)investigation of systemic barriers to economic mobility and access to justice on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Sociologist Patrisia Macías-Rojas will build upon a previous study on the experiences of residents in southern Arizona border communities who experience civil justice problems related to U.S.-Mexico border security, including residents who are not undocumented migrants. After 9/11, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was reorganized under what is now known as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Macías-Rojas will examine the transformation of border security under DHS. Utilizing historical and ethnographic research methods, she will investigate the types of civil justice troubles Mexican American and Native American border residents encounter as well as DHS’s current relationship to local law enforcement and social welfare institutions.