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Notes
Boehm explains that the gendered nature of these migrations results, at least in part, from historic United States immigration policies, such as the Bracero Program, where males contracted in the 1940s “with the U.S. state to provide [seasonal] agricultural labor” (Boehm 2012, p. 34).
In addition to the gendered households described above, Boehm tells that when families reunite in the United States, nuclear households are increasingly common, even while Mexican immigrants try to, often unsuccessfully, recreate the sense of their communities in apartment buildings and neighborhoods.
Boehm also attempts, unsuccessfully, to connect this rape to U.S. government policy by arguing that its border control set the context in which the attack occurred (the woman was assaulted as the migrants hid from searching immigration helicopters). She essentially makes the case that the men, including the woman’s husband, were helpless to stop the assault for fear of attracting the State’s attention. However, given that she also points out that those committing the rape (the coyotes) were heavily armed, while the immigrants were not, it is difficult to imagine how the men could have overcome the attackers in a different context. In fact, one could imagine, albeit outside of the demands of the situation, that it would be safer to stop the attack with the State present, which would arguably serve as a deterrent to retaliatory violence from the coyotes. Indeed, it seems that the only way to link this rape to the U.S. government, as Boehm attempts to do, is to reduce the situation to its logical minimum—the government attempting to enforce its policy against illegal immigration.
The traditional categories assign hard particulars to different generations of immigrants. For instance, second generation immigrants are defined as “children living in the United States” (Boehm, 2012, p. 113).
References
Boehm, D. A. (2012). Intimate migrations: Gender, family, and illegality among transnational mexicans. NY: New York University Press.
Delgado, M. Y., Updegraff, K. A., Roosa, M. W., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2011). Discrimination and mexican-origin adolescents’ adjustment: The moderating roles of adolescents’, mothers’, and fathers’ cultural orientations and values. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 125–139. doi:10.1007/s10964-009-9467-z.
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Bennett, M. Deborah A. Boehm: Intimate Migrations: Gender, Family, and Illegality Among Transnational Mexicans . J Youth Adolescence 41, 1548–1551 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9831-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9831-2