Humanitarian Crises, Inhumane Controls: Public discourse and the lived reality of migration from Central America

• In Event: Central American-U.S. Migration and Discourses of “Humanitarian Crisis” - Part 1

Abstract

During the summer of 2014, the plight of Central American children crossing the U.S. border drew the gaze of the U.S. public and policy makers. As the numbers of children fleeing Central America climbed, human rights activists declared a crisis and argued that the children were legitimate refugees, worthy of legal protection and status. Nevertheless, policy makers pushed for rapid removal proceedings, ‘aggressive deterrence’ of migrants, and increased funding for border security and surveillance. In response, this paper systematically deconstructs the stages of the crisis, examining how narratives and images in media compare to the lived experience of migration overtime. Thus, using both discourse analysis of media coverage and ethnographic research alongside Central American migrants, this paper shows how the construction of a ‘humanitarian crisis’ inadvertently feeds inhumane controls on human movement. In so doing, it contributes to a literature on the construction of crises and the securitization of migration (e.g. Mountz 2010).

Author

• Noelle K Brigden, Marquette University