The tactical politics of ‘humanitarian’ immigration: negotiating stasis, enacting mobility

Abstract

Inspired by autonomy of migration and acts of citizenship literatures as frameworks for understanding migration, the paper analyzes the case of Haitian migrants in Brazil. It focuses, on the one hand, on the relational processes of constructing Haitian migrants as 'humanitarian immigrants' and, on the other, on the (im)perceptible tactics of survival and mobility enacted by them upon arrival. We argue that the 'humanitarian immigrant' label negotiates stasis by instantiating an ambivalent and depoliticized subjectivity, modulated in-between the refugee and the immigrant worker. Migrants challenge this framing and the precarity of controls created by it through imperceptible tactical interventions that allow them to provisionally escape the inhospitable conditions of reception at Brazilian borders. In their attempts to resist and redefine the terms of their presence, Haitian migrants have actualized a web of solidarity networks that have fostered alternative understandings of migration management and its relation with citizenship as a site of political struggles.

Technologies, infrastructures and migrations: material citizenship politics

“…This approach is at odds with the criminalization of solidarity with migrants, also characterized as 'containment through rescue' situations that imply 'substantial disruptions and decelerations of migrant movements' (Tazzioli 2018, 8; see also Tazzioli and Walters 2019, Esposito et al in this issue). Humanitarianism -as one site of intervention of states and international organizations and paradigm mobilized to justify migration control -is occasionally rejected by migrants as undermining the construction of their political subjectivity (Moulin & Thomaz 2016). Attempts to constitute inter-subjective perspectives on acts of citizenship have included experiments with artwork (Lewicki 2017) and acts of digital citizenship (Couldry et al 2014).…”

Obviously without foundation: Discretion and the identification of clearly abusive asylum applicants

“…In 2010, CONARE transferred responsibility for assessing thousands of claims placed by Haitian migrants to Brazil’s National Immigration Council (CNIg), alleging that Haitians were moved by economic and environmental drives, and therefore outside the remit of refugee law (Moulin and Thomaz, 2016). Instead of refugee status, CNIg granted Haitians a temporary visa on humanitarian grounds (2016). Similar forms of subsidiary protection were extended to Syrians in 2013 and to Venezuelans in 2017 (CONARE 2013; CNIg 2017).…”

What’s in a Category? The Politics of Not Being a Refugee

“…These consequences in terms of inhospitable conditions at the border and exploitation in the labour market have been resisted and contested by Haitian migrants and civil society organizations that have been mobilizing to promote their rights in Brazil and to generate a broader debate on Brazil's migration policies or lack thereof (Moulin and Thomaz, 2016). More recently, especially since the beginning of 2016, given the current aggravation of Brazil's political and economic crisis, thousands of Haitian migrants have lost their jobs and decided to migrate to other Latin American countries as well as the United States (Semple, 2016).…”