Mexico & The Fantasy of Migration Control
Mexico & The Fantasy of Migration Control
Today's border debates focus on what the U.S. should do. But in the mid-20th century, Mexico's ruling party waged its own campaign to keep Mexican citizens home. This revelatory study uncovers a forgotten history: Mexican officials who believed they could turn migration on and off at will and the migrants who proved them wrong. From coercive crackdowns to incentive programs, every counter-migratory policy faltered. Migrants resisted, the U.S. refused to cooperate, and Mexican authorities ultimately lost their nerve. This is essential in seeking to understand why "controlling the border" has always been a fantasy—not just for U.S. authorities but for their Mexican counterparts too.
Irvin Ibargüen is a historian of the Latino diaspora. He studies the movement of Latin American peoples across the Western Hemisphere and how states—sending, transit, and receiving—sought to regulate them, in part by branding them as temporary guest workers, undocumented immigrants, or refugees. His focus is on the mid-to-late 20th century, when Latino movement boomed and overwhelmed state attempts at classification and regulation.
A graduate mentoring session will follow the event from 2:30-3:30 p.m.