Abstract
This paper integrates Agamben's concept of “bare life” with the Copenhagen School's concept of “securitization” to develop a framework for analyzing the elevation of immigration out of the realm of ordinary politics and into the realm of security during the 1950s. I argue that immigrants’ extreme invisibility in daily life and visibility in security-obsessed media venues made them an easy outlet for fears about subversive activity. The success with which state and civil society actors deployed securitizing rhetoric constituted a key precondition for the implementation of Operation Wetback. This paper emphasizes the role of unions and Hispanic civic organizations in legitimating this rhetoric. In the concluding section, current developments brought about by the “War on Terror” are compared with those that took place during the years preceding Operation Wetback.
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Notes
Indeed, part of what scholars working within the framework developed by the Copenhagen School wish to demonstrate is that military or terrorist threats are only one type of threat to national security. Other forms of threat, such as threats to economic prosperity or societal identity, can equally lead to policies and practices that occur outside the realm of ordinary politics and within the realm of security (Waever, 1993).
The Bracero Program lasted until 1964, though it was amended and temporarily discontinued several times over the course of its duration (Craig 1971; García y Griego 1983).
It is especially ironic that Lehman was so eager to accept this claim, given that Lehman was one of the most outspoken critics of McCarthy's antics and the exclusivity of the McCarren–Walter Act, which was driven largely by the fear that Eastern and Southern European immigrants were potential Communist agents.
It is important to acknowledge that a debate exists with respect to the significance of large-scale projects aimed at cracking down on immigration, such as Operation Wetback and current initiatives (that is Operation Endgame). Hernández (2006), for instance, argues that Operation Wetback was merely one among several equally, if not more, significant moments during a decade-long buildup. Dunn (1996; 2001) and Rosas (2006) highlight developments taking place during the 1980s and 1990s that help to explain the steady production of the border as an increasingly militarized and violent space. While I agree that it is important to acknowledge historical continuities, I have attempted to demonstrate how large-scale operations and initiatives, such as Operation Wetback, have been made possible by distinct socio-historical conjunctures and are deserving of unique attention due to their material and symbolic consequences. For detailed accounts of the ways in which the “War on Terror” has led to a qualitative shift in policies regulating border control, internal security and immigrant rights, see Ackleson (2005) and Andreas and Biersteker (2003).
Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui argue that governments often ratify human rights treaties in order to mask abuses they are inflicting upon their populations at the time.
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks Howard Kimeldorf, Margaret Somers and the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their insightful and constructive feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript.
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Astor, A. Unauthorized Immigration, Securitization and the Making of Operation Wetback. Lat Stud 7, 5–29 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2008.56
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2008.56