This book describes the experiences of undocumented migrants, all
around the world, bringing to life the challenges they face from
the moment they consider leaving their country of origin, until the
time they are deported back to it. Drawing on a broad array of
academic studies, including law, interpretation and translation
studies, border studies, human rights, communication, critical
discourse analysis and sociology, Robert Barsky argues that the
arrays of actions that are taken against undocumented migrants are
often arbitrary, and exercised by an array of officials who can and
do exercise considerable discretion, both positive and negative.
Employing insights from a decade-long research project, Barsky also
finds that every stop along the migrant's pathway into, and inside
of, the host country is strewn with language issues, relating to
intercultural communication, interpretation, gossip, hearsay, and
the challenges of peddling of linguistic wares in the social
discourse marketplace. These language issues are almost always
impediments to anodyne or productive interactions with host country
officials, particularly on the "front-lines" where migrants
encounter border patrol and law enforcement officers without
adequate means of communicating their situation or understanding
their rights. Since undocumented people are categorized as
'illegal', they can be subjected to abuse and exploitation by host
country officials, who can choose to either tolerate or punish them
on the basis of unpredictable, changeable, and even illusory or
"arbitrary" laws and regulations. Citing experts at every level of
the undocumented immigrant apparatuses worldwide, from public
defenders to interpreters, Barsky concludes that the only viable
policy to address prevailing abuses and inequalities is to move
towards open borders, an approach that would address prevailing
issues and, surprisingly, provide security and economic benefits to
both host and home countries.
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