UC Riverside

Migration enforcement in the United States remains characterized by mass detention and deportation, which have been consistently found to intensify im/migrants’ exposure to violence. Social psychological research investigating the psychosocial impacts on im/migrants from the intersections of violence, human rights violations, and migration enforcement, remains scarce. To fill this void, a grassroots peacebuilding and human rights participatory action research initiative was pursued with two grassroots organizations, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the Inland Empire Immigrant Youth Collective. Grassroots approaches served to: expose the logics of systems of violence (structural, legal, cultural, and direct) and rights violations related to migration enforcement; document the localized understandings of violence, peace, and rights; capture the responses of survival among im/migrants; and identify community-based solutions to prevent continued violence and rights violations. This initiative took place in the Inland Empire, where im/migrants remain negatively affected by the Adelanto Detention Facility—one of the largest immigration facilities in the country run by the private prison company GEO Group, Inc. A total of 228 participants were recruited that included community collaborators; migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers (including those previously detained in the Adelanto Facility); family members related to an im/migrant deported and/or detained in the facility; im/migrant residents of Adelanto; and im/migrant rights advocates. This study was conducted in both English and Spanish, using methods involving a survey, needs assessment, focus groups, and facilitating a community peace forum. Im/migrants were found to be exposed to violence throughout their migration, especially while in the United States. Additionally, the top priority areas im/migrants needed access to included legal support, health and wellness, and language and cultural orientation. In using grounded theory, a localized framework was derived and termed, surviving and transforming violent enclosures. Five themes comprised the framework: structural contributors of violence, material conditions and social relations, navigating terrains of violence, psychosocial and health consequences, and grassroots solutions. From systematizing the knowledge of the im/migrant community, a collective vision for change was established to inform the actions needed to transform violent conditions produced by migration enforcement, into contexts of safety and support.