Im/migrant Farmworker Deportability Fears and Mental Health in the Trump Era: A Study of Polimigra and Contramigra in New York State

Abstract

The Trump administration’s policies have created a climate of heightened hostility in the U.S. northern borderlands that exacerbates im/migrant farmworkers’ anxieties surrounding deportation and family separation. At the same time, Trump’s enforcement initiatives have inspired resistance efforts aimed at mitigating these threats. Drawing on evidence from ethnographic research with Mexican and Guatemalan farmworkers in New York, we explore these interrelated, countervalent trends. First, we show how farmworkers’ heightened fears and social isolation since the outset of Trump’s presidency negatively impact their emotional and mental health. Second, we trace an opposing force of state-level political shifts and local activities that may be mitigating these detrimental effects for im/migrant farmworkers. In particular, we focus on pro-immigrant advocacy efforts in New York. We refer to this pro-immigrant turn as contramigra, a phenomenon of intentional pushback against immigration detention and polimigra cooperation tactics between nonfederal law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.