Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Illegalization, Detention and Deportation by Eithne Luibhéid and Karma R. Chávez

Abstract

Reviewed by: Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Illegalization, Detention and Deportation by Eithne Luibhéid and Karma R. Chávez Martha D. Escobar (bio) Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Illegalization, Detention and Deportation by Eithne Luibhéid and Karma R. Chávez. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2020, 300 pp., $124.36 hardcover, $24.95 paper. The volume, Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Illegalization, Detention, and Deportation, co-edited by critical feminist immigration scholars Eithne Luibhéid and Karma R. Chávez, brings together scholars, artists, and activists to explore the contexts, impacts, and responses to society's increased reliance [End Page 346] on criminalization, detention, and deportation of migrants, specifically LGBTQI people. In contrast to normative constructions that mark migrants as social problems needing to be solved, state practices of illegalization, bodily captivity, and nation-state expulsions are marked as forms of violence. Essentially, the collection queers society's common-sense understanding of "migration crises" and centers the nation-state as perpetrator of violence against migrants. State actions, including those that contribute to the global displacement of people, are indicated as the problem. Queer and Trans Migrations is divided into four parts. Part one, "Contextualizing," engages early state efforts to control migration of people that did not conform into heteronormativity and directs our attention to solidarity-building strategies. Part two, "Negotiating Systems," accomplishes many things, including displaying US foreign policy as a root cause of displacement in Central America; how queer asylum seekers are often compelled to disavow and indict their countries of origin for homophobia, which works to erase other forms of violence that lead to migration, including international global conflicts; how asylum seekers respond to and survive lives in limbo; how undocumented youth organizers navigate complicated racial legacies and build solidarity across movements; and the difficulties of navigating immigration systems as queer migrants. Part two is followed by several images and statements by artists working for migrant social justice. Part three, "Resisting/Refusing," presents different avenues to work toward queer migrant justice. It puts prison abolition in conversation with migrant justice and centers the most vulnerable; interrogates how notions of refugee deservingness rely on heteronormativity; examines how refugees can simultaneously reinforce and resist neoliberal capitalist structures; presents the origins and development of TransLatin@ Coalition and the power of engaging in collaborative scholarship; and demonstrates some of the ways that trans and queer people resist through shameless interruptions that can contribute to coalitional possibilities. Finally, part four, "Critiquing," provides significant reflection on some of the ways that immigrant justice movements simultaneously resist systems of power while also reinforcing normative logics. The collection is fundamentally grounded in ethics of social justice and building a more just and less violent world. Part of its strength is its resistance to privileging one strategy over another. Queer and Trans Migrations simultaneously presents and values the work of scholars, artists, and activists and shows that the lines between knowledge production, art, and action are blurred. While it is grounded in and expands the field of Queer and Trans Migration Studies, because of its intersectional and interdisciplinary nature, it is germane to many fields, including gender and sexuality studies, critical race and ethnic studies, borders and migration studies, critical carceral studies, and decolonial studies. Within and beyond academia, this work is relevant to anyone with a critical interest in issues of displacement and migration, including illegalization, detention, deportation, asylum and refuge; prison abolition; LGBTQI experiences; [End Page 347] and activism. While the collection's range is transnational, there is substantial emphasis on the United States. Queer and Trans Migrations' rooting in radical social justice and liberation raises significant strategies and possibilities. Aligned with critical feminist of color praxis, the authors and the collection as a whole demand that those most impacted by systems of power, those most vulnerable to violence and premature death, be centered in our liberatory work. When we ground our efforts in this way, we all stand to benefit. Furthermore, as Rafael Ramirez Solórzano demonstrates with his work on undocuqueer youth activism in Miami, it is important to remember that the lives that are made exceptionally precarious change depending on the context. Another powerful strategy presented...