This essay considers the recent increase in migration of unaccompanied minors from Central America and Mexico and argues that US border control and immigration officials have not addressed the specific experiences of migrating children. The author posits that this failure is due in part to officials’ reliance on a victim/agent binary in which children are either not accorded any agency and denied a voice or seen as dangerous outsiders and future threats to the nation; in either case, the result is deportation back to life-threatening conditions.
