Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and media analysis of anti-day laborer mobilizations, this paper explores the discourse surrounding the “problem of day laborers” which represents jornaleros as a sort of contaminant of street corners and the visible embodiment of immigrant illegality. I argue that such a discourse has lived material effects that translate into a myriad of constraints on day laborers’ relations of production and other aspects of their lives—ultimately limiting their ability to navigate different geographical and socio-economic scales. In this paper I present two different approaches for solving “the problem” posed by day laborers: 1) a punitive anti-immigrant tactic and 2) a more caring, progressive, pro-immigrant method. Contrary to many studies that argue that undocumented workers are in the shadows of the state, I interrogate different state-sponsored projects that seek to shape the conduct of illegal immigrants through practices of spatial discipline, immigration enforcement, and other political technologies of rule.