U.S. border security and immigration enforcement policies are increasingly outsourced beyond the U.S. territory, forcing Mexican and Central American governments to implement checkpoints, surveillance, detention and other campaigns in exchange for aid and trade agreements. While the northbound movement of migrants is caused by the impacts and the contradictions of capitalism and imperialism, it is characterized in media narratives and policymaking by a myriad myths of a border “crisis,” “criminals,” “bogus refugees,” and “undeserving” migrants. These myths both reify racial and ethnic categories, and ignore conditions in communities of origin, particularly rural Indigenous Central America. Bringing together Indigenous language justice, migrant justice and the defense of territory, this panel discusses the intersectional experiences of Indigenous migration from Guatemala. Promotores de la Liberación Migrante, a Mayan-led grassroots network of interpreters and activists for migrant dignity, will discuss how transnational border strategies have led to the mass incarceration of migrants in Mexican immigration detention centers, as well as their impacts on Indigenous Maya language speakers who are denied interpretation and legal support to represent themselves.
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