Identity, Experience, and Discretion in the Production of Anti-Migration Public Information Campaigns

Since the early 2000s, geographers and social scientists more broadly have drawn attention to the discretionary and subjective ways in which state power comes into being and is enacted through the actions of state and non-state actors. This work has illuminated the space between policy and practice and how state power manifests unevenly. These issues have received special attention from researchers of border and immigration enforcement, a realm in which discretion figures centrally. In this paper, we engage with research on state power, discretion, and feminist geopolitical theories that highlight the important role identity and subjectivity play in shaping experience and politics across scale, to explore the role individual backgrounds and professional and personal identities play in shaping the discretionary actions of those engaged in border-enforcement. We argue that public information campaigns (PICs) in the US-Mexico context were shaped by practices of discretion not only influenced by affect and emotion, but also by the identities and subjectivities of those involved. To do so, we draw on interviews conducted with individuals involved in the development and production of public information campaigns aimed at dissuading unauthorised migration to the United States. Our analysis reveals how individuals understand their role in relation to these campaigns through the lens of their personal and professional identities. Moreover, we show how individual identities and experiences shape decisions and ultimately, the border enforcement materials produced. In doing so, our analysis pushes research and theorising on the everyday state to more directly explore the role subjectivity and identity play in shaping individual actions, the way discretionary power is wielded, and how these actions reverberate upward to affect the operation of state power.