Falling Outside: Excavating the History of Central American Asylum Seekers

Abstract

This article takes a retrospective look at legal advocacy on behalf of Central American asylum seekers, which has been influential in the development of US asylum law and in the creation of an infrastructure to address immigrants' needs. The article considers three time periods when Central Americans have been deemed to fall outside of the category of refugee: (1) the 1980s, when US administrations argued that Central Americans were economic immigrants; (2) the 1990s, when civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala came to an end; and (3) the 2000s, when some Salvadoran youths in removal proceedings have argued that they faced persecution as perceived or actual gang members. This retrospective analysis highlights the ways in which law can be creatively reinterpreted by legal actors, as well as how legal innovations carry forward traces of prior historical moments.

From Problems of Living to Problems of Law: The Legal Translation and Documentation of Immigrant Abuse and Helpfulness

“…Police don't like that word." Pilar's victimhood notwithstanding, it appeared unlikely that she would be the kind of crime victim certifiers would recognize because of the legal archaeology her experiences produced (see Merry 1990Merry , 2004Coutin 2011).…”

The Rights of Noncitizens in the United States

“…She suggests that attention to the vernacularization of human rights is useful in understanding how 294 Coutin local groups interpret and apply international conventions. Gang members have also been the target of innovative advocacy work by attorneys who question the distinction between political violence associated with civil conflict and criminal violence associated with gang recruitment (Coutin 2011, Zilberg 2011. Although the focus on humanitarianism as a basis for rights has been seen as a move away from state-based notions of membership (Soysal 1994, Jacobson 1996, a number of scholars argue that the state's role in determining the rights that accrue to both citizens and noncitizens is expanding rather than contracting (Coleman 2007, De Genova & Peutz 2010, Inda 2006, Nevins 2002, Welch 2002.…”

Deportation Studies: Origins, Themes and Directions

“…Tellingly, one deportee interviewed by Drotbohm (2014) referred to Cape Verde as 'Alcatraz', implying that returning 'home' was a continuation of an earlier period of incarceration (see also Coutin 2010). Deportations are also connected to earlier historical moments, such as political developments that lead individuals to migrate or that deny them legal access to territories of other nations (Coutin 2011), and to later ones, as when migrants' children's births cannot be registered, thus leading to yet another generation of 'documentless' individuals (Galvin 2014). Indeed, according to Galvin, Zimbabweans living in Botswana experience daily life as an effort to ward off deportation; thus, they continually anticipate, even as they try to avoid, this event.…”