This document discusses Mexican immigration to the United States and how immigrants have been used as scapegoats. After September 11th, politicians called for increased border security and the Department of Homeland Security was established to regulate immigration, focusing these efforts on the southern border. The militarization of the border increased under President Bush, with a goal of removing all undocumented immigrants. Private prison companies profit from immigrant detention. Anti-immigration laws like Arizona's SB1070 have costly economic impacts without addressing the underlying issues.

1. Mexican Immigration to
the United States
Statecraft and Scapegoating
Jeffrey Despain

2. Scapegoats
●Latinos are the fastest
growing ethnic group in the
US.
o Estimated to comprise 25
percent of the total
population by 2020(French, 4).
●Immigrants today are again
being used to justify
government responses to the
economic and political
crises(Lovalo, 15).

3. September 11
The terrorist attack of September 11 caused politicians and scholars
to call for increased controls of the flow of illegal immigrants as a
matter of national security(Ramanujan, 1037).

4. Scapegoats: September 11
● Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
o Established in Nov 2002
o Responsibility to regulate immigration(Wilder, 5)
 Border security is focused on nonwhite
undocumented aliens who cross the US
southern border(French, 3).
● Despite more Muslim-terrorists entered the
US from Canada than from Mexico(French, 3).
● Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agency established under DHS.
o began to wage "war on immigrants"(Lovalo, 15)

5. Militarization of the US/Mexico
Border
● President Bush: “Our goal is
clear: to return every single
illegal entrant, with no
exceptions"(Wilder, 5).
●"Endgame"
o 10-year plan for ICE to
"remove all removable
aliens" by 2012(Wilder, 5).
●Border Security
o from $4.6 billion in 2001 to
$10.4 billion in 2007(Wilder, 5).

6. Statecraft
●Managers of the state have used immigrants and anti-
immigrant sentiments and policies as a way of normalizing
and advancing militarization within the borders of the United
States(Lovalo, 17).
●Examples:
o Alexander Hamilton and President John Adams
scapegoated immigrants as threats to national security
(Lovalo, 18).
o Great Depression, Mexicans in the United States were
scapegoated for the economic hard
times(Lovalo, 18).

7. Scapegoats: Bad Economy
●Economically Prosperous?
o politicians, law enforcement
agencies, and regulators turn a
blind eye to the illegal
immigration that feeds the
economy so well(Davies, 382).
●Suffering Economically?
o attitudes regarding immigrants
increase in relative
negativity(Diaz, Saenz, and Kwan, 309).

8. Fig. 1. Attitudes Toward Undocumented Mexican Immigrants by Ethnic Group and Year.
(Diaz, Saenz, and Kwan, 309)
Attitudes toward Undocumented
Mexican Immigrants

9. Private Companies
●President Bush:
o "Today we capture many
more illegal immigrants than
we can send home. And one
of the biggest reasons for
that is, we don't have enough
bed space in our detention
facilities”(Wilder, 5).
●Biggest change in art of
statecraft is the implementation
of private companies.

10. Private Prisons:
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
●The largest private prison
company in the
country(Sullivan, 2)(Wilder, 3).
●The more inmates a
correctional facility has the
more money they get from
the government(Sullivan, 2).
●Thrive off immigrant
detention
o Pedro and Emilee
Guzmán
http://newsone.com/1873875/corporation-is-trying-to-buy-
state-prisons/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu
GE1VxVsYo

11. Impact of Arizona's SB 1070
●By Feb 2011, Arizona had
already spent more than $1.5
million in attempting to defend
SB 1070(IPC, 2012).
●Undocumented immigrants
make up roughly 7% of
Arizona's population,
o eliminating 581,000 jobs.
o shrinking Arizona’s
economy by $48.8 billion
(CAP, 2011).

12. Undocumented Immigrants
●Data according to DHS's March 2012 report regarding 2011.
●NC has the 8th highest population of undocumented
immigrants in the nation.
Estimated Pop. in Jan. % of Total % Change Avg Change
State 2011 2000 2011 2000 2000-2011 2000-2011
Total 11,510,000 8,460,000 100 100 36 280,000
NC 400,000 260,000 3 3 53 10,000
AZ 360,000 333,000 3 4 9 ----

13. Conclusions
●Implementation of statecraft in terms of militarizing the
US/Mexican border and anti-immigrant state laws that target
a population that is projected to be 1/4 of the total population
of our country in response to the suffering economy has very
serious negative economic effects.
●Other negative effects:
oIncrease in border deaths
oIncrease in human trafficking
oWrongful deportation
oSeparation of families
oRise of white-supremacy groups