Abstract
Sharp increases in “child migrants” from Central America detained at the US border in 2014 brought unprecedented levels of attention to long extant social and political issues perceived as causing youth migration. While governments on both sides of the US border faced criticism over responses to the migration “crisis,” the presumed causes of this migration presented in US media discourses went largely unquestioned. This article presents data collected in June 2015 from in-depth interviews with Guatemalan and transnational non-governmental organization (NGO) staff, scholars, lawyers, and activists in order to understand the complex interpretations of child migration by NGO actors in Guatemala. Findings illustrate how NGOs may selectively draw on the power of prevailing media narratives to buttress ideological and programmatic goals while simultaneously contesting how the same media depictions obscure the lived realities of migrants. We consider the transnational information politics of representations of “child migration” across government, media, and civil society sectors and the critical role of NGOs in articulating the complex realities faced by populations vulnerable to migration.
Résumé
La forte hausse du nombre « d’enfants migrants » d’Amérique centrale détenus à la frontière américaine en 2014 a attiré une attention sans précédent sur la longue liste des enjeux sociaux et politiques perçus comme responsables du problème. Tandis que les gouvernements des deux côtés de la frontière ont été critiqués pour leur réponse à la « crise » de la migration, les causes présumées de cette dernière présentées dans les médias américains ont été que peu souvent mises en doute. Cet article présente des données recueillies en juin 2015 dans le cadre d’entrevues détaillées menées auprès de personnel, académiques, avocats et activistes du Guatemala et d’organisation non gouvernementale (ONG) transnationale pour comprendre les complexités des interprétations de la migration des enfants en dehors du discours américain dominant. Les résultats illustrent comment les ONG peuvent délibérément profiter des exposés médiatiques qui prévalent pour fortifier leurs objectifs idéologiques et de programmation, tout en contestant la façon dont les mêmes comptes-rendus des médias ternissent la réalité vécue des migrants. Nous avons pris en considération les politiques d’information transnationale relatives aux représentations de la « migration des enfants » des secteurs gouvernemental, médiatique et de la société civile, et du rôle critique des ONG dans l’articulation des réalités complexes auxquelles les populations menacées par la migration font face.
Zusammenfassung
Der starke Anstieg in der Zahl der „Migrantenkinder“aus Zentralamerika, die 2014 an der U.S.-amerikanischen Grenze in Gewahrsam genommen wurden, lenkte eine bis dato nicht gekannte Aufmerksamkeit auf schon lange bestehende soziale und politische Probleme, die als Ursache für die Jugendmigration angesehen werden. Während die Regierungen auf beiden Seiten der U.S.-Grenze für Ihren Umgang mit der „Migrationskrise“kritisiert wurden, wurden die in den U.S.-Medien dargestellten vermeintlichen Gründe für die Migration kaum hinterfragt. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert Daten, die im Juni 2015 im Rahmen ausführlicher Interviews mit Mitarbeitern guatemaltekischer und transnationaler Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NROs), Wissenschaftlern, Rechtsanwälten und Aktivisten erfasst wurden, um die Auslegungsschwierigkeiten hinsichtlich der Kindermigration außerhalb dominanter Diskurse in den USA zu verstehen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, wie NROs unter Umständen selektiv die Macht vorherrschender Mediendarstellungen heranziehen, um ideologische und programmatische Ziele zu untermauern, doch gleichzeitig beanstanden, wie diese Mediendarstellungen die Lebensrealitäten von Migranten verschleiern. Wir betrachten die transnationale Informationspolitik zur Repräsentation der „Kindermigration“in Regierungen, Medien und Bürgergesellschaften und gehen auf die kritische Rolle der NROs ein, die komplexen Realitäten migrationsgefährdeter Bevölkerungsgruppen zu formulieren.
Resumen
Los fuertes aumentos de “niños migrantes” de América Central detenidos en la frontera de Estados Unidos en 2014 atrajeron niveles de atención sin precedentes sobre los problemas políticos y sociales existentes desde hace tiempo percibidos como los causantes de la migración juvenil. Aunque los gobiernos a ambos lados de la frontera estadounidense se enfrentaron a críticas sobre las respuestas a la crisis de “migración”, las presuntas causas de esta migración presentadas en los discursos de los medios de comunicación estadounidenses no fueron cuestionadas en gran parte. El presente artículo presenta datos recopilados en junio de 2015 de entrevistas en profundidad con personal de organizaciones no gubernamentales transnacionales y guatemaltecas (NGO), académicos, abogados y activistas con el fin de comprender las complejidades de las interpretaciones de la migración juvenil fuera de los discursos estadounidenses dominantes. Los hallazgos ilustran cómo las NGO pueden recurrir selectivamente al poder de los discursos de los medios de comunicación predominantes para respaldar metas ideológicas y programáticas cuestionando simultáneamente cómo las descripciones de dichos medios de comunicación oscurecen las realidades vividas de los migrantes. Consideramos las políticas de información transnacionales de las representaciones de la “migración juvenil” en el gobierno, en los medios de comunicación y en los sectores de la sociedad civil y el papel crítico de las NGO en la articulación de las complejas realidades a las que se enfrentan las poblaciones vulnerables a la migración.
Chinese
2014年被美国边境扣留的中美洲“儿童移民”出现急剧的增长,这让人们对产生年轻移民的长期存在社会和政治问题的关注达到前所未有的水平。尽管美国边境两侧的政府都受到应对移民“危机”不利的批评,但是美国媒体所报道的假定移民原因基本上不被质疑。本文介绍了2015年6月对危地马拉和跨国非政府组织 (NGO) 员工、学者、律师和积极分子的深入采访所收集的数据,从而了解主流美国披露之外的儿童移民解释的复杂性。调查结果展示NGO如何选择性利用主流媒体报道的能力,以支持意识形态的计划目标,同时争辩同一媒体报道如何掩盖移民的真实现状。我们考虑了跨政府、媒体和民间团体领域陈述“儿童移民”的跨国信息政治,以及NGO在清楚报道易于出现移民人口的复杂现实的关键角色。
Arabic
قد أدت الزيادات الحادة في “المهاجرين الأطفال” من أمريكا الوسطى المحتجزين على الحدود الأمريكية في عام 2014 إلى مستويات غير مسبوقة من الإهتمام بالمشاكل الإجتماعية والسياسية التي طال أمدها والتي يعتقد أنها تسبب هجرة الشباب. في حين واجهت الحكومات على جانبي الحدود الأمريكية إنتقادات بشأن الردود على أزمة “الهجرة”، فإن الأسباب المفترضة لهذه الهجرة المقدمة في الخطابات الإعلامية الأمريكية ذهبت إلى حد كبير دون شك. تعرض هذه المقالة البيانات التي تم جمعها في يونيو 2015 من مقابلات متعمقة مع موظفي المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO) الجواتيمالية وعبر الوطنية، الباحثين والمحامين والناشطين من أجل فهم تعقيدات تفسيرات هجرة الأطفال خارج الخطابات الأميركية المهيمنة. توضح النتائج كيف يمكن للمنظمات الغيرحكومية (NGOs) أن تعتمد بشكل إنتقائي على قوة الروايات الإعلامية السائدة لدعم الأهداف الأيديولوجية والبرنامجية، في الوقت الذي تتنافس فيه في الوقت نفسه على كيف تخفي صور وسائط الإعلام نفسها الحقائق التي يعيشها المهاجرون. نحن نعتبر السياسات الإعلامية عبر الوطنية المتمثلة في “هجرة الأطفال” عبر قطاعات الحكومة والإعلام والمجتمع المدني والدور الحاسم للمنظمات الغيرحكومية (NGO) في توضيح الحقائق المعقدة التي يواجهها السكان المعرضون للهجرة.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Interviews were conducted in Spanish apart from Interviews 6 and 15, which were conducted in English, according to participants’ preferences.
References
Adams, R. (2004). Remittances and poverty in Guatemala. World Bank policy research working paper (3418).
Álvarez, M. M. (2015). Menores y migración: un acercamiento a los tipos de violencia en Centroamérica con énfasis en los y las menores migrantes no acompañados. ODISEA. Revista de Estudios Migratorios, 2, 390–411.
Avalos, H. (2015). Niños migrantes, la crisis sin fin. Accessed from http://www.laprensagrafica.com/2015/05/10/nios-migrantes-la-crisis-sin-fin on June 28, 2015.
Baines, D., & Cunningham, I. (2011). Using comparative perspective rapid ethnography in international case studies: Strengths and challenges. Journal of Qualitative Social Work, 12(1), 73–88.
Blum, L. (2001). International NGOs and the Guatemalan peace accords. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 12(4), 327–353.
Butler, J. (1997). The psychic life of power: Theories of subjection. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Calhoun, C. (2013) The Idea of emergency: Humanitarian action and global (dis)order. In D. Fassin & M. Pandolfi (Eds.), Contemporary states of emergency: The politics of military and humanitarian interventions. New York: Zone Books.
Carpenter, R. C. (2007). Studying issue (non)-adoption in transnational advocacy networks. International Organization, 61(03), 643–667.
Chishti, M., & Hipsman, F. (2016) Increased Central American Migration to the United States May Prove an Enduring Phenomenon. Migration Policy Institute. Accessed from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/increased-central-american-migration-united-states-may-prove-enduring-phenomenon.
Cooley, A., & Ron, J. (2002). The NGO scramble: Organizational insecurity and the political economy of transnational action. International Security, 27(1), 5–39.
Cornwall, A., & Jewkes, R. (1995). What is participatory research? Journal of social science & medicine, 41(12), 1667–1676.
Davis, J. (2016). U.S. to admit more Central American refugees. New York Times. Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/obama-refugees-central-america.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0.
Deleuze, G. (1997). Critique et clinique. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Fassin, D. (2001). The biopolitics of otherness: Undocumented foreigners and racial discrimination in French public debate. Anthropology Today, 17(1), 3–7.
Fassin, D. (2013). Children as victims: The moral economy of childhood in the time of AIDS. In J. Biehl & A. Petryna (Eds.), When people come first: Critical studies in global health (pp. 109–132). Princeton University Press.
Fassin, D., & d’Halluin, E. (2005). The truth from the body: Medical certificates as ultimate evidence for asylum seekers. American Anthropologist, 107(4), 597–608.
Ferguson, J. (2015). Give a man a fish: Reflections on the new politics of distribution. Duke University Press.
Fiske, M. (2015). In Texas, volunteers rally to help immigrants and their children. LA Times. Accessed from http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-immigrant-mothers-20150615-story.html, p. 1.
Foucault, M. (1980). Knowledge/power. (C. Gordon, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Frelick, B. (2016). We pay Mexico to catch refugees. Kids Suffer. Accessed from https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/20/we-pay-mexico-catch-refugees-kids-suffer.
Fuchs, C. (2015). Legal challenges facing Central American asylum seekers. Jesuit Refugee Services. Accessed from http://jrsusa.org/news_detail?TN=NEWS-20150612103308.
González, G. E. A. (2016). Estructura y agencia en la migración infantil centroamericana. Cuadernos Inter. ca mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe, 13(1), 43–63.
Greenblatt, A. (2014). What’s Causing the Latest Immigration Crisis? A Brief Explainer. Accessed from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-unaccompanied-children-central-america.
Hannerz, U. (1992). Cultural complexity: Studies in the social organization of meaning. New York: Columbia University Press.
Heidbrink, L. (2010). Unaccompanied migrant youth: Negotiating (il) legality and pursuing justice. The Johns Hopkins University.
Heidbrink, L. (2014). Collisions of debt and interests: Youth negotiations of (In)debt(ed) migration. Paper presented at the 10th Joint Area Centers Symposium Children and Globalization: Issues, Policies and Initiatives, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 10–12, 2014.
IADB. (2014). Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle: A Road Map. Accessed from http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=39224238.
IADB. (2015). Record Breaking Amount of Remittances Received in Latin America and the Caribbean. Accessed from http://www.iadb.org/en/news/news-releases/2015-05-12/record-amount-of-remittances-to-region-in-2014,11158.html.
Immigration Policy Center. (2015). A Guide to Children Arriving at the Border: Law, Policies and Responses. Accessed from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-children-arriving-border-laws-policies-and-responses.
Joffe-Block, J. (2014). Can U.S. style youth programs in Central America keep kids from migrating? PBS News. Accessed from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/u-s-seeks-curb-central-american-child-exodus-youth-programs/.
Johnson, K. & Cocom, L. (2014). U.S. policies exacerbate migration crisis in Guatemala. Upside Down World. Accessed from http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/4962-us-policies-exacerbate-migration-crisis-in-guatemala.
Jonas, S. (2013). Guatemalan migration in times of civil war and post-war challenges. Migration Policy Institute. Accessed from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/guatemalan-migration-times-civil-war-and-post-war-challenges.
Jonas, S., & Rodríguez, N. (2015). Guatemala-US migration: Transforming regions. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Keck, M., & Sikkink, K. (1999). Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics. International Social Science Journal, 51, 89–101.
La Nación. (2015). Tragedias migratorias. Accessed from http://www.nacion.com/opinion/editorial/Tragedias-migratorias_0_1489051091.html on June 28, 2015.
Landim, L., & Thompson, A. (1997). Non-governmental organisations and philanthropy in Latin America: An overview. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 8(4), 337–350.
Lee, B. (2015a). United Nations calls on Mexico to end the detention of child migrants. International Business Times. Accessed from http://www.ibtimes.com/united-nations-calls-mexico-end-detention-child-migrants-1961172.
Lee, E. Y. (2015b). Why it’s so hard to get migrant kids in rural Minnesota through immigration court. Think Progress. http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/06/08/3666048/uac-minnesota-immigration-court/.
Llorente, E. (2015). The border surge a year later: courts backlogged until 2019 to accommodate minors. Accessed from http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/06/05/border-surge-year-later-courts-backlogged-until-201-to-accommodate-minors/.
Llorente, E., & Llenas, B. (2015). The border surge a year later, tens of thousands of immigrant children remain in limbo. Fox News Latino. Accessed from http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/06/02/border-surge-year-later-tens-thousands-immigrant-children-remain-in-limbo/.
Malkki, L. (2015). The need to help: The domestic arts of international humanitarianism. Durham: Duke University Press.
McAllister, C., & Nelson D. (Eds.). (2013). Aftermath: Harvests of violence and histories of the future. In War by other means: Aftermath in post-genocide Guatemala. Durham: Duke University Press.
Moncrieffe, J., & Eyben, R. (2013). The power of labelling. London: Earthscan.
Ordoñez, F. (2015). How can feds end family detention when more migrants are on their way? McClatchy, DC. Accessed from http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/immigration/article24784555.html.
Penton, K. (2015). Group seeking attorneys for migrants kids’ blast bid to hold case. Accessed from http://www.law360.com/articles/657760/groups-seeking-attys-for-migrant-kids-blast-bid-to-hold-case.
Pew Research Center. (2013). Remittances as a Share of GDP, 2012. Accessed from http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/11/15/remittances-to-latin-america-recover-but-not-to-mexico/ph-remittances-11-2013-1-03/on September 21, 2015.
Piatak, T. (2015). Ann Coulter Interview: Part One. Chronicles Magazine. Accessed from https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/ann-coulter-interview-part-one/.
Restrepo D. & Garcia, A. (2014). The surge of unaccompanied children from Central America—Root causes and policy solutions. American Progress. Accessed from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/report/2014/07/24/94396/the-surge-of-unaccompanied-children-from-central-america-root-causes-and-policy-solutions/.
Roewe, B. (2015). Bishops: use of immigrant detention centers ‘a stain’ US Administration. http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/bishops-use-immigrant-detention-centers-stain-us-administration.
Ron, J., Howard, R., & Kathleen, R. (2005). Transnational information politics: NGO human rights reporting, 1986–2000. International Studies Quarterly, 49(3), 557–588.
Sanford, V. (2003). Buried secrets: Truth and human rights in Guatemala. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schepers, E. (2015). Suit alleges U.S. violates rights of immigrant detainees. People’s World. Accessed from http://peoplesworld.org/suit-on-violation-of-constitutional-and-human-rights-of-detained-immigrants/.
Schiavon, J. (2015). La migración Centroamérica-México-Estados Unidos: historias de vulnerabilidad y políticas inacabadas. Con-temporánea, 2(4).
Scrimshaw, S. C. M., & Hurtado, E. (1988). RAP: Procedimientos de asesoria rapida para programas de nutricion y atencion primaria de salud. Los Angeles: UCLA/United Nations University.
Secretaria de Comunicación Social de la Presidencia. (2014). Boletin No. 765. Officina Nacional de Servicio Civil de Guatemala.
Shear, M. & Parker, A. (2014). Obama presses Central American leaders to slow wave of child migrants. The New York Times. Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/us/politics/obama-migrant-children.html.
Sloan, K. (2015). Law schools: give migrant children legal representation. National Law Journal. Accessed from http://www.nationallawjournal.com/home/id=1202729614638/Law-Schools-Give-Migrant-Children-Legal-Representation?mcode=1202615432992&curindex=0&slreturn=20151003114444
Solís, D. V., & Aguilar, M. D. C. G. (2016). De la crisis de los niños migrantes a la crisis de la migración cubana: intereses geopolíticos y expresiones sociales de la crisis del sistema migratorio Centroamérica-México-Estados Unidos entre 2014 y 2015. Boletín de Antropología, 31(52), 15.
Stinchcomb, D., & Hershberg, E. (2014). Unaccompanied migrant children from Central America: Context, causes, and responses. American University: CLALS Working Paper Series No. 7.
Stringer, H. (2015). Caring for the nation’s immigrant children. Nurse.com. Accessed from https://news.nurse.com/2015/06/08/caring-for-the-nations-immigrant-children/.
Terrio, S. (2015). Whose Child Am I?: Unaccompanied, undocumented children in US immigration custody. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ticktin, M. (2006). Where ethics and politics meet: The violence of humanitarianism in France. American Ethnologist, 33(1), 33–49.
Ticktin, M. (2011). Casualties of care: Immigration and the politics of humanitarianism in France. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tobia, P. (2014). No Country for Lost Kids. PBS news. Accessed from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/country-lost-kids/.
Trotter, R., Needle, R., Goosby, E., Bates, C., & Singer, M. (2001). A methodological model for rapid assessment, response, and evaluation: The RARE Program in Public Health. Journal of Field Methods, 13(2), 137–159.
UNHCR. (2015). UNHCR viewpoint: ‘Refugee’ or ‘migrant’ – Which is right?. Accessed from http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2016/7/55df0e556/unhcr-viewpoint-refugee-migrant-right.html.
US Department of Homeland Security. (2015). Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Accessed from https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals.
White House. (2014a). FACT SHEET: Emergency supplemental request to address the increase in child and adult migration from Central America in the Rio Grande Valley areas of the Southwest border. Accessed from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/07/08/fact-sheet-emergency-supplemental-request-address-increase-child-and-adu.
White House. (2014b) FACT SHEET: Unaccompanied Children from Central America. Accessed from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-unaccompanied-children-central-america.
White House. (2015). FACT SHEET: Support for the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle. Accessed from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/03/fact-sheet-support-alliance-prosperity-northern-triangle.
World Bank. (2011). Poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population). Accessed from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY on September 21, 2015.
World Bank. (2015). Personal remittances, received (% of GDP). Accessed from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?year_high_desc=true on December 14, 2016.
World Food Programme. (2015). Accessed from https://www.wfp.org/countries/guatemala/overview on September 21, 2015.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the NAPA-OT Field School Guatemala (www.napaotguatemala.org) for institutional support of this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nichols, B., Umana, K., Britton, T. et al. Transnational Information Politics and the “Child Migration Crisis”: Guatemalan NGOs Respond to Youth Migration. Voluntas 28, 1962–1987 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9890-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9890-9