A Study of the Long-term Effects of Border Security on Access to Justice in Transborder Communities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

Little is known about how the 2003 transition in authority for border security from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the rapid retooling of DHS under President Trump have impacted U.S.-Mexico border communities. Two decades ago, sociologist Patrisia Macías-Rojas documented the transformation in border security in the aftermath of 9/11 on border communities. In 2023, she returned to these communities to conduct an RSF-funded ethnographic pilot study of the experiences of residents in Southern Arizona border communities who experience civil justice problems related to U.S.-Mexico border security. For this project, she will build on these studies, exploring the lived experiences of Mexican immigrants, U.S.-born Latinos, and the Indigenous population in three U.S.-Mexico borderland communities over the past twenty years. She will conduct participant observation and interviews and will analyze civil and criminal legal case data related to border security for her study.