Unwanted journeys: The politics and practice of busing migrants from Texas to Chicago

By the early 2000s, and especially after September 11, 2001, the increasing surveillance on non‐sovereign subjects intensified. One clear example is Texas's recent practice of busing migrants to northern cities, especially to Chicago. This article traces the emergence of this practice and analyzes the political and economic discourse surrounding it. Scholarship on border theorizing has suggested that the border has thickened, been externalized inward as well, and the policies implemented at the border are similar to those at the core of the nation‐state. In this article, I argue that this strategy is part of a broader process of internal rebordering , where migrants are relocated within the country to enforce exclusion while sustaining urban economies. Migrants are often viewed as unwanted or burdensome, yet they quickly find jobs across a range of economic sectors in Chicago. By examining statements and practices from state officials and local communities, I demonstrate how internal rebordering reveals contradictions in immigration policy—exclusionary narratives coexist with a structural dependence on migrant labor—and links the busing of migrants as a novel state practice to certain genealogies in history.