Mexico's drug ‘war’ produced 100,000 deaths between 2006 and 2012. The extreme violence has raised the notion that Mexico has become a failed state wracked by terrorism. We categorise the forms of narco‐violence in Mexico in light of the literature on terrorism and contemporary Mexican politics. Our study suggests three overlapping dimensions of narco‐violence that should be considered terrorism: (a) narco‐terror as a struggle for regional political control; (b) narco‐terror as a practice ordered by cartel leaders rather than spontaneous violence of foot soldiers; and (c) narco‐terror as an expansion strategy from solely drug trafficking to other kinds of organised crime.
This chapter centers on migrants who were brought to the United States as children and who grew up here. Over time, children become embedded within U.S. communities, developing personal histories and social bonds as they reach adulthood. However, many of the young male interviewees found themselves caught up in a criminal and immigration enforcement system that they may not be able to exit. As undocumented Mexican youth in the United States, they may be subject to discrimination and labeled as “criminal aliens,” a racialized practice designed to confine and expel social undesirables, despite their strong connections to families, communities, and the nation. Focusing on claims of belonging and memories of apprehension, detention, and deportation among men in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, the chapter demonstrates how, over time, multiple structures of social, economic, and political marginalization in the United States result in the expulsion of Mexican nationals who identify as U.S. social citizens.
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