Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T09:41:18.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reconceiving Immigration Politics: Walter Benjamin, Violence, and Labor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

INÉS VALDEZ*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
*
*Inés Valdez, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Ohio State University, inevaldez@gmail.com.

Abstract

This article theorizes the circulation of violence in the realms of immigration and labor. Through Walter Benjamin, I conceptualize the relationship between racial violence and law, and note that although violence can support the authority of law, excessive violence makes law vulnerable to decay. This tension between authority and excess is eased by humanitarianism. I find clues for disrupting this circulation in Benjamin’s twin notions of the real state of exception and the general strike, introduced two decades apart and invested in theorizing how labor and other marginalized groups threaten the stability of law supported by violence. This reconstruction proceeds alongside an examination of the contemporary US regime of immigration enforcement, which combines the excessive violence of detention and deportation with marginal humanitarian adjustments, which ultimately legitimate violence. On the disruptive side, a Benjaminian reading of labor activism by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers offers three dimensions of emancipatory politics: (a) practices of refusal (to engage on the terms of the immigration debate), (b) the establishment of historical constellations (of racial regulation of labor constitutive of law), and (c) divine violence (through exposure of lawful violence in the food production chain).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am indebted to Tatiana Hernandez’s excellent research assistance and, for feedback, to Amna Akbar, Lawrie Balfour, Javier Burdman, Shuk Ying Chan, Julian Culp, Madeleine Elfenbein, Katrin Flikschuh, Michael Goodhart, Lori Gruen, Daniel Henry, Murad Idris, Melissa Lane, Michael MacKenzie, Tamar Malloy, Peter Niesen, Alasia Nuti, Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Anne Phillips, Alyson Price, Lucia Rafanelli, Philipp Rehm, Sara Riva, Jennifer Rubenstein, Elvis Saldias Villarroel, Lea Ypi, APSR editor Leigh Jenco and referees, and the audiences at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, the London School of Economics, Princeton University, Universität Hamburg, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Virginia, and the Association for Political Theory. Three subsequent drafts of this article were written at the Princeton University Center for Human Values (as a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow), the “Writing in Depth” retreat at Hope Springs Institute, and the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (as a Humboldt Stiftung Fellow). I am thankful for their support.

References

REFERENCES

Abizadeh, Arash. 2008. “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion: No Right to Unilaterally Control Your Own Borders.” Political Theory 36 (1): 37–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ackerly, Brooke A. 2018. Just Responsibility: A Human Rights Theory of Global Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agamben, Giorgio. 2005. State of Exception. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Allen, Patricia. 2008. “Mining for Justice in the Food System.” Agriculture and Human Values 25 (2): 157–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Michelle. 1993. “A License to Abuse.” The Yale Law Journal 102 (6): 1401–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apostolidis, Paul. 2010. Breaks in the Chain: What Immigrant Workers Can Teach America about Democracy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Apostolidis, Paul. 2019. The Fight for Time. Migrant Day Laborers and the Politics of Precarity. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barvosa, Edwina. 2011. “Mestiza Consciousness in Relation to Sustained Political Solidarity.” Atztlán 36 (2): 121–54.Google Scholar
Behdad, Ali. 2005. A Forgetful Nation: On Immigration and Cultural Identity in the United States. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Beltrán, Cristina. 2009. “Going Public. Hannah Arendt, Immigrant Action, and the Space of Appearance.” Political Theory 37 (5): 595–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, Walter. 1986 [1921]. “Critique of Violence.” In Reflections, ed. P. Demetz. New York: Schocken Books, 277300.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Walter. 1968 [1940]. “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” In Illuminations, ed. H. Arendt New York: Schocken Books, 253–64.Google Scholar
Berger, Susan. 2009. “(Un)Worthy: Latina Battered Immigrants under VAWA.” Citizenship Studies 13 (3): 201–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buck-Morss, Susan. 1991. The Dialectics of Seeing. Benjamin and the Arcades Project. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.Google Scholar
Bumiller, Kristin. 2008. In an Abusive State. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Burkhalter, Holly. 2012. “Fair Food Program Helps End the Use of Slavery in the Tomato Fields.” The Washington Post, (September 2).Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2014. “Bodily Vulnerability, Coalitions, and Street Politics.” In Differences in Common: Gender, Vulnerability, and Community, eds. Sabadell-Nieto, Joana and Segarra, Marta. New York: Rodopi Publishing, 99119.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2016. “Rethinking Vulnerability and Resistance.” In Vulnerability in Resistance, eds. Butler, Judith, Gambetti, Zeynep, and Sabsay, Leticia. Durham: Duke University Press, 1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campisi, Jessica. 2019. “Trump Administration Walks Back Decision to End Protections for Migrants Who Receive Medical Care.” The Hill (September 2).Google Scholar
Caplan-Bricker, Nora. 2017. “I Wish I’d Never Called the Police.” Slate (March 19).Google Scholar
Carens, Joseph H. 2013. The Ethics of Immigration. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cho, Eunice Hyunhye, and Shah, Paromita. 2016. Shadow Prisons: Immigrant Detention in the South. Southern Law Poverty Center. Montgomery, AL. [cited October 16, 2019]. Available from: https://www.splcenter.org/20161121/shadow-prisons-immigrant-detention-south.Google Scholar
Cisneros, Natalie. 2013. “‘Alien’ Sexuality.” Hypatia 28 (2): 290–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CIW. 2013a. Correction: Wendy’s ‘Independent, Non-Profit Purchasing Cooperative’ Is Not What We Thought It Was… (April 17). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/04/correction-wendys-independent-non-profit-purchasing-cooperative/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2013b. Old Fashioned Is Right!… (January 17). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/01/old-fashioned-is-right/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2013c. On Human Rights, Wendy’s Isn’t Old Fashioned—Just Outdated (June 7). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/06/on-human-rights-wendys-isnt-old-fashioned-just-outdated/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2013d. Quaker Youth to Wendy’s: “What Does Your Heart Call upon You to Do?”… (July 8). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/07/quaker-youth-to-wendys-what-does-your-heart-call-upon-you-to-do/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2013e. Wendy’s New Twist on an Old PR Game: CIW’s Fair Food Program Un-American (June 17). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/06/wendys-new-twist-on-an-old-pr-game-ciws-fair-food-program-un-american/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2013f. Your Burgers May Be Square… (April 16). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2013/04/your-burgers-may-be-square/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2014. Religious Leaders Around the Country Call on Wendy’s: “Lead Wendy’s to be a Part of the Common Good…” (June 4). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2014/06/wendys-religious-leaders/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2015. Building a Future without Violence in the Fields… Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited October 16, 2019]. Available from: https://ciw-online.org/blog/2015/12/fwv-training/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2016. “Boot the Braids!” Rings Out across Campuses throughout the Midwest and the Southeast! (October 14). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2016/10/boot-the-braids-tours/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2017a. ANNOUNCING: Farmworker Launch ‘Harvest without Violence’ Campaign to End Sexual Violence in Wendy’s Supply Chain! (September 27). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/09/harvest-without-violence/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2017b. MEDIA ROUND-UP: From NYC to Palm Beach, Wendy’s Board Chair Nelson Peltz’s Hometown Papers Lift up Fair Food… (December 6). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/12/media-round-up-ny-wpb/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2017c. Roll on! University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University, John Carroll University to Join National Student Fast… (April 24). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/04/catholic-universities-take-on-fast/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2017d. TODAY: 19 Students from Ohio State University, Community Members from Columbus Launch Weeklong Fast! (March 20). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/03/today-19-students-from-ohio-state-university-community-members-from-columbus-launch-weeklong-fast/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2017e. TODAY: Stand with Farmworker Women by Calling Wendy’s Board Chairman Nelson Peltz! (November 20). Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited January 9, 2018]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/11/nelson-peltz-call-in/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2018a. Blowback! Pop Culture Media Explodes with News of Wendy’s Attack on Farmworker Women, Response from #TimesUp Leaders… Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited May 27, 2019]. Available from: https://ciw-online.org/blog/2018/03/backfire-wendys-metoo/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2018b. No Free Passes: Wendy’s Return to US Doesn’t Obviate Duty to Respect Workers’ Rights… It Only Puts Them Back Where they Started. Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited November 2, 2018]. Available from: http://ciw-online.org/blog/2018/06/no-free-passes/.Google Scholar
CIW. 2018c. Twitter Claps Back at Wendy’s: “Reprehensible,” “Vile,” “Disgusting,” “Shameful” and “Outrageous”… [cited July 26, 2018]. Available from: http://ciw-online.org/blog/2018/03/wendys-alyssa-milano/.Google Scholar
CIW. n.d.-a. About CIW. Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited December 27, 2017]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/about/.Google Scholar
CIW. n.d.-b. Campaign for Fair Food. Coalition of Immokalee Workers [cited December 27, 2017]. Available from: http://www.ciw-online.org/campaign-for-fair-food/.Google Scholar
De Genova, Nicholas. 2004. “The Legal Production of Mexican/Migrant ‘Illegality’.” Latino Studies 2 (2): 160–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delgado, Edwin. 2019. “Trump Administration Still Separating Families at Border, Advocates Say.” The Guardian (February 12).Google Scholar
Dobuzinskis, Alex. 2017. “California Judge Seeks to Prevent Immigration Arrests Inside State Courts.” Reuters (March 16).Google Scholar
Drainville, André C. 2008. “Present in the World Economy: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (1996–2007).” Globalizations 5 (3): 357–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fair Food Standards Council. 2018. Fair Food Code of Conduct. Sarasota, FL: Fair Foods Standards Council [cited October 19, 2019]. Available from: http://www.fairfoodstandards.org/resources/fair-food-code-of-conduct/.Google Scholar
Farmworker Justice. 2014. Selected Statistics on Farmworkers. Washington, DC: Farmworker Justice.Google Scholar
Fassin, Didier. 2005. “Compassion and Repression.” Cultural Anthropology 20 (3): 362–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, Elise. 2016. “Watch Hillary Clinton Get Choked up Over Daughter of Immigrants’ Story.” Huffington Post (February 18).Google Scholar
García Hernández, César Cuauhtémoc. 2013. “Creating Crimmigration.” Bingham Young University Law Review 2013 (6): 1457–516.Google Scholar
Glenn, Heidi. 2017. “Fear of Deportation Spurs Four Women to Drop Domestic Abuse Cases.” NPR (March 22).Google Scholar
Gómez Cervantes, Andrea, Menjívar, Cecilia, and Staples, William G.. 2017. “‘Humane’ Immigration Enforcement and Latina Immigrants in the Detention Complex.” Feminist Criminology 12 (3): 269–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzales, Alfonso. 2013. Reform without Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodhart, Michael. 2018. Injustice. Political Theory for the Real World. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2018. “The Right to Strike: A Radical View.” American Political Science Review 112 (4): 905–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2014. “In Florida Tomato Fields, a Penny Buys Progress.” The New York Times (April 25), A1.Google Scholar
Guidotti-Hernández, Nicole M. 2011. Unspeakable Violence. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Gündoğdu, Ayten. 2015. Rightlessness in an Age of Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahamovitch, Cindy. 1997. The Fruits of Their Labor. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahamovitch, Cindy. 2011. No Man’s Land. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hernandez, Trish, Gabbard, Susan, and Carroll, Daniel. 2016. A Demographic and Employment Profile of US Farmworkers. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor.Google Scholar
Office of Inspector General. 2019. “Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Settlement Care.” In Issue Brief. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services.Google Scholar
Holt Giménez, Eric, and Shattuck, Annie. 2011. “Food Crises, Food Regimes and Food Movements.” Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (1): 109–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honig, Bonnie. 2001. Democracy and the Foreigner. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyndman, Jennifer, and de Alwis, Malathi. 2002. “Beyond Gender: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Humanitarianism and Development in Sri Lanka.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 31 (3/4): 212–26.Google Scholar
ICE. 2017. Identification and Monitoring of Pregnant Detainees (Directive 11032.3). Washington, DC: Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Google Scholar
Immigration Prof. 2017. “Following the Lead of the Chief Justice of California, Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Sends letter to Department of Homeland Security.” In ImmigrationProf Blog.Google Scholar
Ince, Onur Ulas. Forthcoming. “Between Equal Rights. Primitive Accumulation and Capitalist Violence.” Political Theory.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Aric. 2018. “Jeff Sessions: Parents and Children Illegally Crossing the Border Will Be Separated.” Time.Google Scholar
Johnson, Kit. 2017. “Latinos Are Reporting Fewer Sexual Assaults.” In ImmigrationProf Blog.Google Scholar
Kandel, William A. 2012. Immigration Provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Washington DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Kelly, John. 2017a. Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security.Google Scholar
Kelly, John. 2017b. Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvement Policies. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security.Google Scholar
King, Desmond. 2000. Making Americans: Immigration, Race, and the Origins of the Diverse Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lemon, Jason. 2019. “Trump Administration Argues it Could be ‘Traumatic’ to Reunite Thousands of Migrant Children.” Newsweek.Google Scholar
Lenard, Patti Tamara. 2015. “The Ethics of Deportation in Liberal Democratic States.” European Journal of Political Theory 14 (4): 464–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lugo-Lugo, Carmen R., and Bloodsworth-Lugo, Mary K.. 2014. “‘Anchor/Terror Babies’ and Latina Bodies.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought 8 (1): 1.Google Scholar
Lydersen, Kari. 2018. “Farmworkers Call Out Wendy’s for Failure to Act on Sexual Abuse and Harassment.” Huffingston Post (March 21).Google Scholar
Mai-Duc, Christine. 2016. “Mother-Daughter Duo Could Be Separated by Deportation.” Los Angeles Times (July 26).Google Scholar
Martel, James R. 2013. Divine Violence: Walter Benjamin and the Eschatology of Sovereignty. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAleenan, Kevin, Cissna, Lee Francis, and Homan, Thomas D.. 2018. Memorandum: Increasing Prosecutions of Immigration Violations. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security.Google Scholar
Menjívar, Cecilia, and Abrego, Leisy. 2012. “Legal Violence: Immigration Law and the Lives of Central American Immigrants.” American Journal of Sociology 117 (5): 1380–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 1988. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Feminist Review 30: 61–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morton, John. 2011. Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain Victims, Witnesses, and Plaintiffs, ed. ICE. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security.Google Scholar
Oprysko, Caitlin. 2019. “Acting DHS Chief Says Family Separation ‘Not Worth it’.” Politico.Google Scholar
Pawel, Miriam. 2014. The Crusades of Cesar Chavez. New York: Bloomsbury Press.Google Scholar
Preda, Moira Fisher, Olavarria, Cecilia, Kaguyutan, Janice, and Carra, Alicia. 2013. Breaking Barriers: A Complete Guide to Legal Rights and Resources for Battered Immigrants. Washington, DC: National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project.Google Scholar
Presser, Lizzie. 2018. “Safe House.” The California Sunday Magazine (October 4).Google Scholar
Renford, Rochelle. 2001. “Picking a Fight.” Orlando Weekly (June 14).Google Scholar
Richie, Beth. 2012. Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Riley, Nano. 2002. Florida Farmworkers in the Twenty-First Century. Gainsville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Riva, Sara. 2017. “Across the Border and into the Cold.” Citizenship Studies 21 (3): 309–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Janell. 2016. “How Karla Ortiz, 11-Year-Old Daughter of Undocumented Immigrants, Made a Powerful Political Case.” Washington Post (July 26).Google Scholar
Rossello, Diego. 2017. “‘To be Human, Nonetheless, Remains a Decision’: Humanism as Decisionism in Contemporary Critical Political Theory.” Contemporary Political Theory 16 (4): 439–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampaio, Anna. 2015. Terrorizing Latina/o Immigrants. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Speri, Alice. 2018. “Detained, Then Violated.” The Intercept, (April 11).Google Scholar
Suchland, Jennifer. 2015. Economies of Violence. Transnational Feminism, Postsocialism, and the Politics of Sex Trafficking. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Tacher, Jordan, Kumar, Aditi, and Orloff, Leslye E.. 2014. U-vis a Victim Benefits Eligibility Process. Washington, DC: National Immigrant Women’s Advoacy Project.Google Scholar
Thompson, Christie, and Flagg, Ana. 2016. “Obama’s Promises to Focus Deportation Policy on ‘Felons Not Families’ Has Fallen Short.” Business Insider (September 29).Google Scholar
Ticktin, Miriam. 2011. “The Gendered Human of Humanitarianism: Medicalising and Politicising Sexual Violence.” Gender & History 23 (2): 250–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ticktin, Miriam. 2014. “Transnational Humanitarianism.” Annual Review of Anthropology 43: 273–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torres, John P. 2007. Interim Guidance Relating to Offficer Procedure Following Enactment of VAWA 2005. Washington, DC: DHS.Google Scholar
Trump, Donald J. 2017a. Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements. Washington, DC: The White House.Google Scholar
Trump, Donald J. 2017b. Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. Washington, DC: The White House.Google Scholar
Valdés, Dionicio Nodín. 2011. Organized Agriculture and the Labor Movement before the UFW. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdez, Inés. 2016. “Punishment, Race, and the Organization of US Immigration Exclusion.” Political Research Quarterly 69 (4): 640–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdez, Inés, Coleman, Mathew, and Akbar, Amna. 2019. “The ‘Empirical Ends’ of Police Violence: Law, Practice, and a Grounded, Embodied State of Exception.” Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 2004 [1919]. “Politics as a Vocation.” In The Vocation Lectures, eds. Owen, David S. and Strong, Tracy B.. Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Company, 3294.Google Scholar
Weil, David. 2011. “Enforcing Labour Standards in Fissured Workplaces: The US Experience.” Economic and Labour Relations Review 22 (2): 33–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weizman, Eyal. 2012. The Least of All Possible Evils. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Wessler, Seth Freed. 2011. Shattered Families. New York: Applied Research Center.Google Scholar
Whyte, Jessica. 2012. “Human Rights: Confronting Governments? Michel Foucault and the Right to Intervene.” In New Critical Thinking: Law and the Political, eds. Stone, Matthew, Wall, Illan rua, and Douzinas, Costas. Abingdon: Routledge, 1131.Google Scholar
Wilmers, James. 2018. “Wage Stagnation and Buyer Power: How Buyer-Supplier Relations Affect US Workers’ Wages, 1978 to 2014.” American Sociological Review 83 (2): 213–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodruff, Betsy. 2018. “ICE Now Detaining Pregnant Women.” The Daily Beast (March 3).Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2003. “The Logic of Masculinist Protection: Reflections on the Current Security State.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29 (1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Elliot. 2017. “The Hard Truths about Obama’s Deportation Priorities.” The Huffington Post, (March 1st).Google Scholar