About time: Temporal control and illegality in Nashville, Tennessee

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines how time creates immigrant il/legality. It centers on a young, undocumented immigrant who was stopped by police following a traffic violation and held in custody pending potential deportation. However, he was ultimately released due to previously filed legal claims. Through the case, I demonstrate how he, his lawyer, the police, and his everyday contacts advance or attempt to thwart his claims to legality through advancing different, and often moralized, notions of time. Specifically, I show how these actors tie legality to specific points in time, or periods of time, including age. A temporal focus reveals the flexibility of il/legality and how non‐state actors—including undocumented immigrants themselves—wrest control over their lives and participate in defining the legal. The limits of temporal control, evidenced in the arbitrary nature of timing itself, also demonstrate the ultimate serendipity of legality.