Class and Classification at the U.S.-Mexico Border

U.S. immigration and nationality law is viewed as a set of classifications that contribute to the transfer of value between classes. An anthropological approach to the symbolic classificatory process is outlined, emphasizing its performance in situations of state power. Ethnographic observations document the actual practice of Immigration and Naturalization Service classification and reveal covert symbolic categories and plausible constructs about migrants. However, migrants are accorded an active role in struggling with and responding to dominant classifications. Three important results of immigration classification are the increased exploitation of undocumented immigrants, categorized as outlaws and obliged to undertake the risk of crossing a heavily enforced boundary; the complex maneuvering and segmentation within immigrant communities induced by the rewards of legal visa categories; and the confirmation of stereotypes about migrants in the dominant society that underwrite their employment as inexpensive labor.