University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Arizona Prevention Research Center, United States.
University of Arizona, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Anthropology, United States.
Soc Sci Med. 2014 May;109:66-74. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.02.005. Epub 2014 Feb 6.
Immigration laws that militarize communities may exacerbate ethno-racial health disparities. We aimed to document the prevalence of and ways in which immigration enforcement policy and militarization of the US-Mexico border is experienced as everyday violence. Militarization is defined as the saturation of and pervasive encounters with immigration officials including local police enacting immigration and border enforcement policy with military style tactics and weapons. Data were drawn from a random household sample of US citizen and permanent residents of Mexican descent in the Arizona border region (2006-2008). Qualitative and quantitative data documented the frequency and nature of immigration related profiling, mistreatment and resistance to institutionalized victimization. Participants described living and working in a highly militarized environment, wherein immigration-related profiling and mistreatment were common immigration law enforcement practices. Approximately 25% of respondents described an immigration-related mistreatment episode, of which 62% were personally victimized. Nearly 75% of episodes occurred in a community location rather than at a US port of entry. Participant mistreatment narratives suggest the normalization of immigration-related mistreatment among the population. Given border security remains at the core of immigration reform debates, it is imperative that scholars advance the understanding of the public health impact of such enforcement policies on the daily lives of Mexican-origin US permanent residents, and their non-immigrant US citizen co-ethnics. Immigration policy that sanctions institutional practices of discrimination, such as ethno-racial profiling and mistreatment, are forms of structural racism and everyday violence. Metrics and systems for monitoring immigration and border enforcement policies and institutional practices deleterious to the health of US citizens and residents should be established.
移民法律的军事化可能会加剧族裔健康差距。我们旨在记录移民执法政策和美国-墨西哥边境军事化作为日常暴力的普遍存在和方式。军事化被定义为移民官员的饱和和普遍存在，包括当地警察采用军事风格的战术和武器执行移民和边境执法政策。数据来自亚利桑那州边境地区的美国公民和墨西哥裔永久居民的随机家庭样本（2006-2008 年）。定性和定量数据记录了与移民相关的 profiling、虐待和对制度化受害的抵制的频率和性质。参与者描述了生活和工作在一个高度军事化的环境中，其中与移民相关的 profiling 和虐待是常见的移民执法做法。大约 25%的受访者描述了一次与移民相关的虐待事件，其中 62%的人是个人受害。近 75%的事件发生在社区地点，而不是在美国入境口岸。参与者的虐待叙述表明，移民相关虐待在人群中已经正常化。鉴于边境安全仍然是移民改革辩论的核心，学者们必须深入了解这些执法政策对墨西哥裔美国永久居民日常生活以及他们的非移民美国公民同族裔的公共卫生影响。批准歧视性的制度实践，如族裔 profiling 和虐待的移民政策，是结构性种族主义和日常暴力的形式。应该建立用于监测移民和边境执法政策以及对美国公民和居民健康有害的制度实践的指标和系统。
