Legalization or Marginalization? Nicaraguan Immigrants and Costa Rican Law

• In Event: Precarious Passages: The Insecurity of Immigration Control in the Americas

Abstract

Because immigration law in Costa Rica allows foreigners to claim residency based on a 1st degree family relation, from the day a child is born in Costa Rica, her migrant mother or father can apply for residency based on biological links to that child. However, like most measures in Costa Rica’s immigration law, provisions for family reunification are particularly difficult for Nicaraguans, the largest and poorest group of migrants in the country, to access. New fees and fines, coupled with the costs of obtaining identity documents and the complicated bureaucratic application process trap Nicaraguan migrants between their rights to residency and the practical possibilities for attaining legal status. Such confusion generates uncertainty about the boundaries between legality and illegality in immigrants’ lives and, ultimately, represents a form of immigration control. Drawing on 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork, I examine recent immigration reform, the confusion surrounding the law, and, most recently in 2014, controversy over the implementation of a $100/month fine for illegal status. While on paper, recent Costa Rican immigration reform has promoted integration and provided pathways to legal status, in practice the law’s provisions create insurmountable barriers to legalization for Nicaraguans. Thus, although framed in terms of integration and human rights, current Costa Rican immigration law contributes to an overall project of marginalization of Nicaraguan immigrants.

Author

• Caitlin E Fouratt, California State University, Long Beach