Migrant or Gauntlet Survivor: Novels Tackle the Plight of the Undocumented and Push the Boundaries of Policy Analysis About Migration and Immigration Reform in a Beneficial Direction

Abstract

Policy analysis on a wide variety of issues can benefit from integrating novels that bring issues to life. In this essay migration and immigration reform are examined as somewhat interrelated, but not necessarily interrelated issues. The traditional assumption about immigration reform is that by addressing a path to citizenship for illegal/undocumented immigrants within the United States, or providing a temporary reprieve from deportation, or modifying asylum standards, all aimed at benefitting migrants already in the United States, it will lead to a reduction in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border—it will not: Migration is not a dependent variable based on immigration reform. The four novels addressed here that can aid in policy analysis about immigration reform and migration are; Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive; Kate Fox, The Migrant: A Novel; Graciela Limon, The River Flows North; and, Jenny Torres Sanchez, We Are Not From Here. Collectively, these four novels enhance policy analysis by adding a more human understanding of the perils that migrants go through and why American politicians uttering statements about where the United States stands on admitting them, matter little to migrants who make the journey to our border. What American politicians say, or which policies are proposed or implemented are often no more than “noise” to migrants. How American policies can affect the flow of migrants or encourage potential migrants to not start their journey in the first place, is not clear at all.