The Irrepressible/Irresponsible Trap: Justifying Migrant Deaths at the México-U.S. Border from “Prevention Through Deterrence” to “Operation Lone Star”

Operation Lone Star (OLS), a state-level effort to fortify the México-U.S. border in Texas, marked an escalation in the U.S. “Prevention Through Deterrence” (PTD) policy. How have politicians and government officials justified the escalation of immigration enforcement tactics despite the futility and lethality of these tools? Our theoretical approach relies on Beltrán’s (2020) critical exploration of migrant cruelty to understand how migrant deaths are embedded in practices of Latinx racialization and the productive quality of punishment (Valdez, 2016). This study offers a critical analysis of government documents, news coverage, and official statements concerning migrant deaths to trace the evolution of PTD over the course of 30 years. We find that PTD’s transformation from the weaponization of nature to its increasing reliance on violent technologies and tactics has been facilitated by the rise of what we call the “irrepressible/irresponsible” trap that blames migrants in their life and in their death.