Legal Injuries: Deportability and U.S. Immigration Policy in the Lives of TransLatina Immigrants

Abstract

Legal Injuries: Deportability and U.S. Immigration Policy in the Lives of Transgender Latina Immigrants examines the impact of immigration legislation and structural inequality in the lives of Transgender Latina Immigrants in the U.S. TransLatinas are male-assigned-at-birth immigrants from Latin America who identify as women. Many TransLatinas report having experienced numerous forms of violence in their natal country because of their gender identity. Thus, the majority of TransLatinas in this study came to the U.S. in search of a safe place to enact their gender autonomy and to thrive in other aspects of their lives. However, in the U.S., most TransLatinas face social, economic, and legal barriers that restrict their mobility and sense of self. Through engaged ethnography and legal analysis, this project unpacks and makes visible the ways in which TransLatinas embody, internalize, contest, and mitigate the administrative power that U.S. immigration policy, social alienation, and the constant threat of deportability have on their daily existence.