Forging Informal Citizenship in the Shadow of the State: Armed Nonstate Actors and Migrant Incorporation in the Colombian and Mexican BorderlandsCharles Larratt Smith, University of Texas at El PasoResearch Grant, 2023 The main goals of this research project, “Forging Informal Citizenship in the Shadow of the State: Armed Nonstate Actors and Migrant Incorporation in the Colombian and Mexican Borderlands,” are to improve our understanding of the role played by armed nonstate actors (ANSAs) in regulating and incorporating large inflows of foreign migrants in volatile borderlands under their control, and to assess to what extent existing state policies increase or decrease migrants’ exposure to these violent actors and potential victimization. Specifically, this project seeks to explore these dynamics in two countries with a wide variety of ANSAs that have in recent years experienced unprecedented incoming migration flows: Colombia and Mexico. The generosity of The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation’s Distinguished Scholar Award has financed extensive fieldwork in various locations in these two countries that has generated over 150 interviews with members of the migrant population and other individuals who attend to this vulnerable demographic. The presence of state authorities in places where migrants congregate, whether in transit or establishing quasi-permanent settlements, does not necessarily produce a higher level of security for the migrants or their property. Presently, there are a few preliminary findings from this project. First, the presence of state authorities in places where migrants congregate, whether in transit or establishing quasi-permanent settlements, does not necessarily produce a higher level of security for the migrants or their property. In contrast, state policies that grant greater powers to the military and law enforcement to regulate migration processes often lead to increased violent predation and victimization of the migrant population instead of enhanced protection for this vulnerable demographic. Additionally, migrants in both countries are at risk of being victimized by “bad faith” actors; however, these risks are clearly institutionalized in Mexico as a result of its restrictive immigration policies. In contrast, Colombia’s more “open” immigration policies do not amplify opportunities for the victimization of the migrant population. Rather, violent predation against migrants there is the product of the country’s limited state capacity and highly competitive criminal markets.
