Letting die by design: Asylum seekers' lived experience of postcolonial necropolitics

Although the United States has been a nation of immigrants since its founding, the massive number of asylum seekers arriving at the US-Mexico Border is a relatively new phenomenon that requires attention and study. This paper describes the lived experience of three asylum seekers, demonstrating how physical and mental health are structured by US policies and politics. The in-depth accounts are informed by participant observation and policy analysis of humanitarian, non-governmental organizations advocating for asylum seekers. We focus on health and geographical trajectories using the triple trauma paradigm that includes trauma in the country of origin, trauma incurred during transit/flight, and the trauma of arrival and relocation/resettlement in the host country. We suggest that a form of necropower, understood as processes exacerbating the potentiality for death, is embedded in the structure of the US asylum apparatus.

Automated summary

Although the United States has always been a nation of immigrants, the sudden influx of asylum seekers at the US-Mexico Border is a recent development that needs attention and research. This paper presents the experiences of three asylum seekers and explores how US policies and politics shape their physical and mental health. By examining their stories and analyzing the policies of humanitarian organizations, we uncover the triple trauma paradigm and argue that necropower, a phenomenon exacerbating the possibility of death, is embedded in the structure of the US asylum system.