Disinventions: Rhetorics of Undocumented Immigration in the Deterrence Era

US immigration policy along the southwestern border is deadly. Since 1994, the US Border Patrol has implemented a federal immigration strategy known as “prevention through deterrence,” which closed off many urban entry points along the US-Mexico border and militarized urban border crossings. This policy forced undocumented migrants to cross through dangerous terrain like the Sonoran Desert, often with tragic results. Immigrant advocates highlight migrant disappearances and deaths to expose the policy’s human toll. In Disinventions, José Manuel Cortez argues this approach is unlikely to bring an end to such oppressive immigration practices.

Disinventions examines the cultural, political, and rhetorical effects of US deterrence practices, exploring how discourse on immigration overlooks subjects who have always been a part of the borderlands but are rarely included in migration narratives. He highlights the failings of decolonial methods and discourse to fully capture and represent marginalized voices, including Black, Central American, and queer subjects. And he develops an ethics of unconditional hospitality embracing undocumented migrants. By drawing on the concept of “atopias” and what he calls “sites of disinvention” to unearth new forms of politics, Cortez suggests we can transcend the limits of decolonization discourse and humanize undocumented immigrants.

This challenging and engaging work should appeal to scholars and students of rhetorical studies, Latinx studies, and American studies.

José Manuel Cortez is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Oregon.