State Categories, Bureaucracies of Displacement, and Possibilities from the Margins

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

How do state-created categories and bureaucracies influence inequality and marginalization, affecting access to resources and rights for marginalized groups?

View the page of: Cecilia Menjívar

Institution: University of California Los Angeles

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How do state-created categories and bureaucracies influence inequality and marginalization, affecting access to resources and rights for marginalized groups?

Image courtesy of interviewee. November 21, 2024

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The speaker discusses their extensive research on immigration and gender-based violence in Latin America and the United States, highlighting the significant role of the state in shaping immigrants' lives and family structures through laws and policies. They emphasize how immigration laws impact family reunification, access to social rights, and the experiences of women facing violence, ultimately creating and exacerbating inequalities among different groups.

The discussion includes the consequences of legal classifications on immigrants, which dictate their access to resources like education, healthcare, and voting rights. These classifications lead to stark disparities in opportunities and rights, particularly for those in vulnerable situations, perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage across generations.

The speaker argues that the bureaucratic structures and rules established by the state not only shape individual lives but also influence societal perceptions and interactions. Furthermore, they advocate for researchers and citizens to critically reflect on these categories and advocate for policies that address the needs and rights of vulnerable populations, thereby aiming to inform and improve the experiences of those affected by these systemic issues.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Impact of State Policies on Immigrant Families**: The author emphasizes how immigration laws and policies shape the lives of immigrant families, affecting their ability to reunite, access social rights, and navigate their everyday lives. The state plays a central role in establishing rules that govern family reunification and determine the quality of life for immigrants.

2. **Creation of Inequalities through Legal Classifications**: The video discusses how the state's classification systems (such as asylum seekers, refugees, economic migrants, and undocumented status) create hierarchies that lead to significant disparities in access to resources, rights, and benefits. This stratification affects individuals and families differently, perpetuating cycles of inequality.

3. **Long-term Consequences of Exclusion**: The author highlights the lasting impacts of being classified in lower tiers of this system, which leads to limited access to education, healthcare, housing, and voting rights. These exclusions create obstacles that have enduring effects on life chances and opportunities for future generations, particularly for the children of undocumented immigrants.

4. **Normalization of Discrimination and Social Division**: The video addresses how the state’s categorization of immigrants can lead to societal perceptions that normalize discrimination against undocumented individuals. This reinforces a sense of separation within immigrant communities, which can damage social cohesion and undermine collective efforts to contest unjust policies.

5. **The Role of Advocacy and Contestation**: Despite the barriers created by legal classifications, the author points out that immigrant communities can and do organize to contest their situations. Examples of advocacy and mobilization against restrictive policies demonstrate the potential for collective action to challenge state actions and seek change, highlighting the importance of community responses in the face of systemic inequality.

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Here are some key quotes from the video that encapsulate the main themes and ideas discussed:

1. **Influence of the State**: "I've long been interested in what the state, through its laws, policies, agencies, bureaucracies does, and what effect all of that has on people's everyday lives."

2. **Impact of Immigration Laws**: "I've long researched how immigration laws in various manifestations... will affect whether immigrants live separated from their loved ones or will be able to reunite in the United States."

3. **Inequality Through Legal Frameworks**: "The state has a central place in shaping the contours and content of immigrant families... and will amplify and even create inequalities within and across groups."

4. **Social Rights and Access**: "Rules about the age of an immigrant's children for sponsorship will create inequalities within the same family... the state determines that access through rules and regulations."

5. **Disenfranchisement**: "There are rules that disenfranchise millions of people from their voting rights... This affects people in the long term."

6. **Stratification of Access**: "This classification, or into these different legal statuses already comprises a system of stratified access to resources, which guarantees that those at the bottom will have very little to no access to well-paying jobs, voting rights, healthcare, housing."

7. **Normalization of Mistreatment**: "Once the public, public and elected officials use these categories to refer to different populations, it becomes normal... the mistreatment and perceptions... become normalized in the public's perceptions."

8. **Community Division**: "These legal classifications create divisions within immigrant communities... which is quite potent, socially, politically, economically."

9. **Resistance and Agency**: "People contest these classifications, they organize... they form a national alliance to lobby... to engage others to file lawsuits in court."

10. **Researcher Responsibility**: "As researchers, we have the responsibility to reflect on the categories that we use in our research... to share these reflections with people who are in positions to create policy."

These quotes effectively capture the video's exploration of how state policies and legal categorizations shape the experiences and inequalities faced by immigrants, particularly in the convideo of gender-based violence and family dynamics.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

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This work draws from my over three decades

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researching immigration

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and gender-based violence in Latin America, immigration

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to the United States and

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gender-based violence in Latin America.

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I've long been interested in what the state,

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through its laws, policies, agencies, bureaucracies

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does, and what effect all of

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that has on people's everyday lives.

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For instance, I've long research how immigration laws

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and policies affect immigrants lives in,

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in various manifestations, how policies

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that regulate family reunification for immigrants,

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for instance, will affect whether immigrants live separated

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from their loved ones or,

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or will be able to reunite in the United States,

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whether, immigrants will be able to sponsor,

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family members for migration or not.

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This way, from the angle I approach my work,

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the state has a central place in shaping the contours

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and in content of immigrant families.

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Um, I or another example is how laws

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and policies affect the lives of women

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who live in situations of violence, and whether

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and how government agencies decide

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or neglect to help them by implementing laws to protect them

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or not implementing laws to protect them.

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Again, the, the, from my angle, the state has a lot

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to do with those responses

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and the effect that that will have on, on women's lives.

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So my work is based, this work that I,

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that I wrote is based on my long-term interest in how

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the state creates rules, regulations, requirements

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that will structure family life, access to social rights,

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the, the lives of women, et cetera.

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In this way, in my view, what states do

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will amplify

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and even create inequalities within and across groups.

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Rules about the age of an of an immigrant's children

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for sponsorship will create inequalities within the same

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family if some children are still minors

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and can be sponsored versus their siblings

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who may already be over 21 and cannot be sponsored.

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Rules and requirements also create

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inequalities across groups.

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For instance, granting some immigrant groups access

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to social benefits, but denying those benefits to others.

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It is the state that determines that access

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through rules and regulations.

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So basically, I see a focus on what the state does

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through its bureaucracies, rules, regulations,

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as another lens to understand inequalities

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and the role the state plays in creating

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and sustaining inequalities.

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So it's a framework

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or a lens through which we can understand

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how inequalities are perpetuated

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and created by creating a rule that only immigrants

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with permanent status can access reduced tuition in colleges

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here in the United States, or have access to student loans,

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which is a key aspect of the college experience here.

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Um, but undocumented immigrants

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or immigrants who are in temporary statuses cannot access

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those benefits and

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therefore will have limited access

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to further the, their education.

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It creates major access of differences, creates,

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it differentiates between these two groups,

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even if they come with from the same national origin

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or the same background.

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Um, so, so then you have a, a group that is unable

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to attend college and a group that has a path

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to be able to attend college.

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And we know the huge difference that attending

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or not attending higher education makes over a lifetime

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of a person in terms of income, ability to purchase a home,

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accumulate wealth, et cetera.

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Also, with regards to social rights,

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it's the same thing.

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There are rules that disenfranchise millions

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of people from their voting rights,

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and those are very clearly stipulated who can vote

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and for what reason they cannot vote, for instance.

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And this is the case with practically everything

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that matters for everything that makes

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a difference in people's lives, in their,

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in their long-term trajectory of immigrant integration

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or just their life chances, to,

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to, to make a living.

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Um, what is important here is that quite a bit

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of these exclusions that are created through requirements,

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rules, regulations, concentrate on groups

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that are already vulnerable socially,

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politically, and economically.

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So their exclusions are amplified

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and cemented through bureaucratic rules and regulations.

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This affects people in the long term.

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Their life chances are deeply impacted as a result

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for subsidized housing, for accessing healthcare.

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Formal healthcare

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or higher education stratify people into those who deserve

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and those who don't.

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And it's not something intrinsic to the person.

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It is determined by particular requirements that are created

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to distribute benefits across a population.

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For instance, immigrants are classified into asylum seekers,

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refugees, economic migrants, et cetera, undocumented status,

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lawful permanent residents,

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and citizenship through naturalization.

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All of these are classifications

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that have consequential effects on people's lives.

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The receiving state creates this classification system

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because immigrants don't leave their countries

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with these classifications.

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These are not natural aspects of people's lives.

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They are categorized by the receiving state at arrival.

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We know that these categories have differentiated access

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to resources, and they are organized hierarchically.

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So, for instance, ci people who are naturalized,

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who obtain citizenship through naturalization will have more

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access to more benefits than someone

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who is on temporary status, even though

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that person on temporary status has, has permission,

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formal permission to live in the country.

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And these two groups will have more access

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to more benefits than someone who is classified

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as undocumented because they cannot fulfill their

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requirements needed to be moved to one of the other more

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permanent, categories.

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This classification, or into these different legal statuses

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already comprises a system of stratified access

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to resources, which guarantees that those at the bottom

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will have very little to no access to well paying jobs,

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voting rights, healthcare, housing, even the ability

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to sponsor family members to migrate to the country

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classification into un undo an undocumented status,

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for instance, ensures vulnerability ACLU across a life

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course with effects so potent that the children

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of undocumented immigrants will,

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will experience those effects

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because their parents may not have enough money to, to pay

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for their education

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or will live in substandard housing, et cetera.

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And research has found that those effects extend even

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to the grandchildren of people who were initially classified

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as undocumented.

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And the effects also go horizontally to affect,

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members, spouses and other members of, of the family.

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Today, it's very difficult for people to move out

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of undocumented status

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or to even move to a quasi documented status

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because the receiving state has limited visas,

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visa spots, and won't change those even though the,

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the demand keeps on growing.

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But the, the spots available for people to be,

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to migrate formally through permanent visa,

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through, through formal channels,

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are not, doesn't change.

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Many people will be left in legal limbo,

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or outright undocumented

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because this receiving state does not change.

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Its classification system does not open more spots into

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these different categories for people to migrate.

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Um, formally they will have, so people

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who are left out of the classification system

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and become undocumented,

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or even people who are extended temporary statuses

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will have very limited rights across the board.

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Again, regarding voting rights, only people who are,

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who naturalize and become citizens

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through naturalization have voting rights,

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holding public office, health services,

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social security, owning land, owning a home,

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being extended a driver's license, which

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functions as an identification card,

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access to higher education.

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All of these are social rights that are very, very limited

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for people who are classified in lower levels

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of this stratification system that the legal,

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structure creates.

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And so the right to apply for, for in, in a,

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in even the right to a formal trial, for instance,

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is it's to a fair trial.

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It's, is undermined by

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where people are positioned in this legal hierarchy.

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The right to apply for formal jobs with security

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and higher wages

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and, is also undermined by having been classified

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as undocumented.

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Then all these rights are subverted,

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placing people in this category in a lifetime of,

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creates a lifetime of obstacles

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and accumulated disadvantage

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that translate into enduring inequality.

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For people who are classified in this, in this category,

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once the public, public

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and elected officials use these categories to refer

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to different populations, it becomes normal.

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And, the mistreatment and,

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and the perceptions that the, of the people,

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the state classifies as undocumented, for instance,

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is goes unquestioned.

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It becomes normalized in the public's

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perceptions in language.

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And they are also, they, they become,

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and people who are classified

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as undocumented start to become

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Understood or perceived as deserving of that

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treatment of the threat of deportation,

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of not being in given, extended any, any

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of the rights I just mentioned.

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So it becomes, their mistreatment becomes part of how, with

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how things are people get used to hearing and,

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and the people who are classifying get used

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to hearing those terms and associations.

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And they start to use those categories to,

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in, with, with each other.

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And it, it also affects how they perceive one another

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and how they seek separation from, from in distance,

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from those who are classified as undocumented.

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And it also, and,

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and that also undermines a sense of community, a sense

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of ethnic solidarity

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because, the,

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these legal classifications create divisions within,

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immigrant communities.

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And this is quite potent, socially,

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politically, economically.

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People contest these classifications, they organize.

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Um, I have one example about that.

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Um, the, the immigrants

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who have held temporary protected status

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for over two decades

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and have never been allowed to move

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to a more permanent status when their permanent status was

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at risk of being terminated.

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They form a national alliance to lobby,

238
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people in Congress to fight in the streets,

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to call attention to their plight

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and, to engage others to file lawsuits in court.

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And so they have been able to, to, to, to retain

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that temporary status so far.

243
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So yes, people, respond

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and contest, in organized ways

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and, throughout, in various spaces, this is,

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a, a less visible

247
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but equally important force

248
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because very often we have, people in private,

249
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in the private sector, in banks, even store clerks

250
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who ask for, an i identification card,

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even when the transaction does not require people

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to be in the country, formally or be citizens

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or have permanent residents.

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And, because it becomes, so normalized

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that people think that it's the way things should

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be, the way things are.

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And so, I had an immigrant, for instance,

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who told me that when they bought a car, the,

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at the car dealership, he was asked for a,

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Um, proof of citizenship, which

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does not make sense because it is a private transaction.

262
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It's a, it is a purchase,

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but it becomes part of how,

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certain immigrants who may be perceived

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as being in the country undocumented need to prove

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that they, that they are,

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that they have permission to be in the country.

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So it, it, those everyday interactions

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amplify the power of the state in incre the, the creation

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of those categories and the power of the state

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in controlling those populations.

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Misalignments I mentioned in my work, come from

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the cate when the categories the state creates can capture

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the, the, the range of experiences immigrants have,

275
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for instance, a family, a family,

276
00:15:47.545 --> 00:15:50.245
relationship, akin relationship that

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00:15:50.425 --> 00:15:52.525
for the immigrants is very meaningful.

278
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Um, but it's not recognized, by the government

279
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as a, as a, as a relationship that can,

280
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on which sponsorship can be based, a grandparent

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with whom an immigrant has grown up and recognizes parents.

282
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The, receiving government does not include grandparents

283
00:16:14.945 --> 00:16:16.125
as the people

284
00:16:16.145 --> 00:16:18.165
who can be sponsored for migration, for instance.

285
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So those are misalignments.

286
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As researchers, we have the responsibility to

287
00:16:24.845 --> 00:16:28.455
reflect on the categories that we use in our research

288
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because we may end up

289
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refining the categories the state creates

290
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to classify populations as public.

291
00:16:38.445 --> 00:16:43.305
Um, as citizens, we have the responsibility to

292
00:16:43.995 --> 00:16:47.945
share these reflections with, people

293
00:16:47.965 --> 00:16:51.025
who are in the PO in positions to create policy,

294
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to have a direct effect on, on the lives, not only

295
00:16:56.245 --> 00:16:58.705
of immigrants, but of vulnerable populations

296
00:16:58.965 --> 00:17:01.145
who are in similar positions.

297
00:17:01.565 --> 00:17:03.865
The obligation to share a research with

298
00:17:04.295 --> 00:17:07.025
that would inform policies that affect the lives

299
00:17:07.165 --> 00:17:08.905
of people in vulnerable situations.

300
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I think that is our responsibility as researchers

301
00:17:14.005 --> 00:17:17.545
and as citizens, and as members of society.

State Influence on Immigration and Gender-Based Violence

00:00:00 - This work draws from my over three decades researching immigration and gender-based violence in Latin America, immigration to the United States and gender-based violence in Latin America. I've long been interested in what the state, through its laws, policies, agencies, bureaucracies does, and what effect all of that has on people's everyday lives. For instance, I've long research how immigration laws

00:00:37 - in various manifestations, how policies that regulate family reunification for immigrants, for instance, will affect whether immigrants live separated from their loved ones or, or will be able to reunite in the United States, whether, immigrants will be able to sponsor, family members for migration or not.

00:01:07 - the state has a central place in shaping the contours and in content of immigrant families. I or another example is how laws and policies affect the lives of women who live in situations of violence, and whether and how government agencies decide or neglect to help them by implementing laws to protect them or not implementing laws to protect them.

State Influence on Gender Inequality and Family Dynamics

00:01:40 - to do with those responses and the effect that that will have on, on women's lives. So my work is based, this work that I, that I wrote is based on my long-term interest in how the state creates rules, regulations, requirements that will structure family life, access to social rights, the, the lives of women, et cetera.

00:02:12 - will amplify and even create inequalities within and across groups. Rules about the age of an of an immigrant's children for sponsorship will create inequalities within the same family if some children are still minors and can be sponsored versus their siblings who may already be over 21 and cannot be sponsored.

00:02:42 - inequalities across groups. For instance, granting some immigrant groups access to social benefits, but denying those benefits to others. It is the state that determines that access through rules and regulations. So basically, I see a focus on what the state does through its bureaucracies, rules, regulations, as another lens to understand inequalities

Educational Inequalities and Immigration Status

00:03:12 - and sustaining inequalities. So it's a framework or a lens through which we can understand how inequalities are perpetuated and created by creating a rule that only immigrants with permanent status can access reduced tuition in colleges here in the United States, or have access to student loans, which is a key aspect of the college experience here. but undocumented immigrants

00:03:44 - those benefits and therefore will have limited access to further the, their education. It creates major access of differences, creates, it differentiates between these two groups, even if they come with from the same national origin or the same background. so, so then you have a, a group that is unable to attend college and a group that has a path

00:04:14 - And we know the huge difference that attending or not attending higher education makes over a lifetime of a person in terms of income, ability to purchase a home, accumulate wealth, et cetera. Also, with regards to social rights, it's the same thing. There are rules that disenfranchise millions of people from their voting rights, and those are very clearly stipulated who can vote

Impact of Bureaucratic Classifications on Immigrant Life Chances

00:04:46 - And this is the case with practically everything that matters for everything that makes a difference in people's lives, in their, in their long-term trajectory of immigrant integration or just their life chances, to, to, to make a living. what is important here is that quite a bit of these exclusions that are created through requirements, rules, regulations, concentrate on groups

00:05:19 - politically, and economically. So their exclusions are amplified and cemented through bureaucratic rules and regulations. This affects people in the long term. Their life chances are deeply impacted as a result for subsidized housing, for accessing healthcare. Formal healthcare or higher education stratify people into those who deserve and those who don't.

00:05:51 - It is determined by particular requirements that are created to distribute benefits across a population. For instance, immigrants are classified into asylum seekers, refugees, economic migrants, et cetera, undocumented status, lawful permanent residents, and citizenship through naturalization. All of these are classifications that have consequential effects on people's lives.

Stratification of Immigrant Access and Rights

00:06:23 - because immigrants don't leave their countries with these classifications. These are not natural aspects of people's lives. They are categorized by the receiving state at arrival. We know that these categories have differentiated access to resources, and they are organized hierarchically. So, for instance, ci people who are naturalized,

00:06:55 - access to more benefits than someone who is on temporary status, even though that person on temporary status has, has permission, formal permission to live in the country. And these two groups will have more access to more benefits than someone who is classified as undocumented because they cannot fulfill their requirements needed to be moved to one of the other more

00:07:27 - This classification, or into these different legal statuses already comprises a system of stratified access to resources, which guarantees that those at the bottom will have very little to no access to well paying jobs, voting rights, healthcare, housing, even the ability to sponsor family members to migrate to the country

Enduring Impact of Immigration Status on Families

00:07:55 - for instance, ensures vulnerability ACLU across a life course with effects so potent that the children of undocumented immigrants will, will experience those effects because their parents may not have enough money to, to pay for their education or will live in substandard housing, et cetera. And research has found that those effects extend even

00:08:27 - as undocumented. And the effects also go horizontally to affect, members, spouses and other members of, of the family. Today, it's very difficult for people to move out of undocumented status or to even move to a quasi documented status because the receiving state has limited visas, visa spots, and won't change those even though the,

00:08:59 - But the, the spots available for people to be, to migrate formally through permanent visa, through, through formal channels, are not, doesn't change. Many people will be left in legal limbo, or outright undocumented because this receiving state does not change. Its classification system does not open more spots into

Impact of Legal Classifications on Immigrant Rights

00:09:32 - formally they will have, so people who are left out of the classification system and become undocumented, or even people who are extended temporary statuses will have very limited rights across the board. Again, regarding voting rights, only people who are, who naturalize and become citizens through naturalization have voting rights, holding public office, health services,

00:10:07 - being extended a driver's license, which functions as an identification card, access to higher education. All of these are social rights that are very, very limited for people who are classified in lower levels of this stratification system that the legal, structure creates. And so the right to apply for, for in, in a,

00:10:38 - is it's to a fair trial. It's, is undermined by where people are positioned in this legal hierarchy. The right to apply for formal jobs with security and higher wages and, is also undermined by having been classified as undocumented. Then all these rights are subverted, placing people in this category in a lifetime of, creates a lifetime of obstacles

Normalization of Inequality: The Impact of Classification on Undocumented Populations

00:11:10 - that translate into enduring inequality. For people who are classified in this, in this category, once the public, public and elected officials use these categories to refer to different populations, it becomes normal. And, the mistreatment and, and the perceptions that the, of the people, the state classifies as undocumented, for instance,

00:11:41 - It becomes normalized in the public's perceptions in language. And they are also, they, they become, and people who are classified as undocumented start to become Understood or perceived as deserving of that treatment of the threat of deportation, of not being in given, extended any, any of the rights I just mentioned. So it becomes, their mistreatment becomes part of how, with

00:12:16 - and the people who are classifying get used to hearing those terms and associations. And they start to use those categories to, in, with, with each other. And it, it also affects how they perceive one another and how they seek separation from, from in distance, from those who are classified as undocumented. And it also, and, and that also undermines a sense of community, a sense

Organizing Resistance: Immigrant Communities and Legal Classifications

00:12:46 - because, the, these legal classifications create divisions within, immigrant communities. And this is quite potent, socially, politically, economically. People contest these classifications, they organize. I have one example about that. the, the immigrants who have held temporary protected status for over two decades

00:13:18 - to a more permanent status when their permanent status was at risk of being terminated. They form a national alliance to lobby, people in Congress to fight in the streets, to call attention to their plight and, to engage others to file lawsuits in court. And so they have been able to, to, to, to retain

00:13:48 - So yes, people, respond and contest, in organized ways and, throughout, in various spaces, this is, a, a less visible but equally important force because very often we have, people in private, in the private sector, in banks, even store clerks who ask for, an i identification card,

Normalization of Immigration Status and Daily Interactions

00:14:22 - to be in the country, formally or be citizens or have permanent residents. And, because it becomes, so normalized that people think that it's the way things should be, the way things are. And so, I had an immigrant, for instance, who told me that when they bought a car, the, at the car dealership, he was asked for a,

00:14:54 - does not make sense because it is a private transaction. It's a, it is a purchase, but it becomes part of how, certain immigrants who may be perceived as being in the country undocumented need to prove that they, that they are, that they have permission to be in the country. So it, it, those everyday interactions amplify the power of the state in incre the, the creation

00:15:26 - in controlling those populations. Misalignments I mentioned in my work, come from the cate when the categories the state creates can capture the, the, the range of experiences immigrants have, for instance, a family, a family, relationship, akin relationship that for the immigrants is very meaningful. but it's not recognized, by the government

Researcher's Responsibility in Immigration Policy

00:16:02 - on which sponsorship can be based, a grandparent with whom an immigrant has grown up and recognizes parents. The, receiving government does not include grandparents as the people who can be sponsored for migration, for instance. So those are misalignments. As researchers, we have the responsibility to reflect on the categories that we use in our research

00:16:30 - refining the categories the state creates to classify populations as public. as citizens, we have the responsibility to share these reflections with, people who are in the PO in positions to create policy, to have a direct effect on, on the lives, not only of immigrants, but of vulnerable populations

00:17:14 - The obligation to share a research with that would inform policies that affect the lives of people in vulnerable situations. I think that is our responsibility as researchers and as citizens, and as members of society.

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