States of Detention: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Migration Crises to the United States
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Date
2024-01-09
Authors
ellis, dustin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
What is a migration crisis? To answer this seemingly simple question, this study juxtaposes two migration crises that have profoundly shaped the character of American political institutions and the imaginations of liberal democratic politics. Migration, crisis or not, will be the primary issue driving major policy and state-market innovations for the next century, and may pose the ultimate test for liberal democracies facing new challenges in a rapidly changing world. Proffering a diagnosis of our contemporary immigration and border politics for the purposes of thinking more holistically about the past, present, and future, this study maps out the origins of crises from colonialism to the 21st century through a comparative historical analysis that uses eclectic data collected from archives both physical and digital. The results are clear, we cannot ignore the deeply interconnected histories and geographies of the United States, Cuba, Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras if we are to understand the origins of migration crises and their implications in reproducing a future wrought with familiar paradoxical tensions between America as an idea, and America as a place.
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Keywords
borders and immigration policy, comparative historical analysis, detention, immigration history, migration crisis, pragmatism