March 3, 2026

For the Sake of Migrant Futures

Key Points

Migrant deaths inside shipping containers underscore the lethal consequences of restrictive border enforcement and smuggling operations.
Five incidents in one week in the late 1980s illuminate the deadly nature of these policies, revealing the intersection of trade expansion and immigration control.
Analysis reveals how neoliberal economic goals contradict the growing deterrence mechanisms that endanger lives at the US-Mexico border.
The article calls for a reevaluation of the policies that contribute to the border's deadly infrastructure, aiming to prevent further tragedies.

Abstract

This article brings attention to the junction where neoliberal economic policies and immigrant deterrence policies meet, producing infrastructure that has led to the tragic phenomenon of migrant deaths inside of shipping containers at the U.S. – Mexico border. The late 1980s saw five shipping container incidents in one week, highlighting the deadly consequences of increasingly restrictive border enforcement and irresponsible smuggling operations. Such tragedies demand a deeper exploration into why the United States, the richest country in the world, also maintains the deadliest land border in the world with Mexico. This article emphasizes the inherent tension between the neoliberal goal of expanding trade and the exclusionary goal of restricting routes for unauthorized immigration via a growing deterrence apparatus. These interdependent systems have shaped the border’s deadly infrastructure. By exploring their infrastructural contradictions, the article underscores how economic policies and anti-immigrant laws manifest in physical forms that endanger the lives of humans, calling for a reevaluation of the logics on which these systems are constructed to prevent future tragedies.

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For the Sake of Migrant Futures

Key Points

Abstract

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