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Global Health Econ Sustain Latin American Liberal migration policies

state system and powerful (domestic) political forces push paint migrants as bearers of social threats. These discourses
states towards greater closure. This is a liberal paradox have dominated political debate within European and
because it highlights some of the contradictions inherent in USA contexts and have been developed around different
liberalism, which is the quintessentially modern political and axes: a socio-economic principle, a securitarian principle,
economic philosophy and a defining feature of globalization” and an identity principle (Tsoukala, 2005). One of the
(Hollifield, 2004, p. 886). main conclusions arising from this exploration is that the
Suppose it is broadly accepted that states are obligated criminalization and penalization of migrants are primarily
to uphold control over their borders (involving a certain driven by moments of economic, political and social
degree of political and legal closure) to avoid jeopardizing “crisis.” Such moments of crisis are often induced by the
the social contract and the liberal state itself (Hollifield, neo-liberal economic processes pushed by globalization
2004). In that case, migration policies can be delineated (Melossi, 2003; Bigo, 2004; De Giorgi, 2010). The same
on a large scale from more “liberal” to more restrictive. factor — globalization — is at the origin of contradictory
Alternatively, starting from the late 1970s, Western processes.
governments have embarked on increasingly restrictive In the meantime, the northern Mediterranean shores
immigration discourses and policies, especially rejecting and the northern banks of the Rio Grande —have become
irregular immigration. The debate on migration has shifted the physical and symbolic places around which the “liberal
toward a national security dimension — from an economic paradox” appears in its all brutality. The phenomenon
and labor perspective. has been particularly conspicuous in the aftermath of
the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe. This is how Zygmunt
A substantial body of academic literature has delved into Baumann described the 2015 European refugees crisis:
the reasons behind the increasing portrayal of migrants as “Drowned children, hastily erected walls, barbed wire fences,
security threats in the Western world. Various multifaceted overcrowded concentration camps (“reception centers”) and
factors — linguistic, social, cultural, economic, and political governments vying in adding insults to the injuries of exile,
— that shape the perception of immigration in European narrow escape and nerve-racking perils of the voyage to
and USA societies have been scrutinized from different safety by treating the migrants as hot potatoes — all such
angles and approaches. Policies put into place to prevent moral outrages are less and less news and ever more seldom
16
migrants from entering Europe and the USA (Huysmans, “in the news.” Alas, the fate of shocks is their turning into the
2000) have been dissected alongside the discourses that dull routine of normality — and of moral panics spending
17
16 Number of social institutions are driven by their own themselves and vanishing from view and from consciences
diverse but overlapping reasons to amplify the problems wrapped in the veil of oblivion.” 18
associated with immigration. According to Vollmer
(2011) mass media, politicians and police find that 2.1. Turning the immigration policy paradox upside
(irregular) immigrants provide a convenient target. down: the liberal tide in Latin American
Media find a useful “enemy” figure, playing on public Is the “liberal paradox” the necessary “curse” of migration
fears of crime and anxiety surrounding dwindling policies all over our global world? The answer is negative.
societal resources as a means to increase profit margins. Alternative political discourses and policies indeed exist
This has been found to be the case, particularly in those beyond the confines of the Western world. South-South
European countries where journalists have a freer hand migrations may follow different patterns. Two scholars,
to set the news agenda, such as the tabloid press in the Luisa F. Freier and Diego Acosta Arcarazo, consider
UK (Berkhout, 2012). For politicians, immigration offers
a platform where messages are transmitted relatively that the so-called “liberal paradox” appears to be turned
easily to the public: talking tough on illegal immigration “upside down” in many Latin American countries, albeit
is more straightforward for instance than explaining/ to varying degrees (Freier & Arcarazo, 2015; Arcarazo
distinguishing a party’s economic policies or stance on & Freier, 2015): “In past decades, immigration policies in
foreign affairs. For police, irregular migrants represent Latin America developed in stark contrast to other regions.
an easily recognised means of meeting quotas for arrests Whereas most countries moved toward more restrictive
and demonstrating action in a “problem area” where policies, many Latin American countries liberalized their
there is social consensus. The result is a convergence of immigration policy frameworks and recently passed laws
interests that sets in place a “complex systemic machine” that expand individual rights in unprecedented ways.” 19
” (Melossi, 2003) driving a criminalising discourse
around the figure of the migrant or foreigner. 18 https://fundacionacm.org/en/2017/01/10/
17 See, for example Joanna Parkin (2013) in-memoriam-zygmunt-bauman-the-migration-
http://aei.pitt.edu/45600/1/Criminalisation_of_ panic-and-its-misuses/
Migration_in_Europe_J_Parkin_FIDUCIA_final.pdf 19 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77059483.pdf

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.0861