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Freedom in Shackles: Gender, Embodied Illegality, and "Alternatives to Detention" Programs

archives@tulane.edu / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “alternatives to detention” program, known as the Intensive Supervisory
Appearance Program (ISAP) is promoted as a “humane” immigration enforcement method for Central American women with children. In addition to frequent reporting requirements, ISAP enrollees are required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet monitor, typically referred to as “grilletes” or “shackles” by the persons who wear them. This thesis uses historical and media analysis methods to first demonstrate how mainstream media uses neoliberal gender ideologies that simultaneously domesticate and criminalize immigrant parents to justify the practice of assigning ankle shackles to Central American women with children. The second part is based on six in-depth interviews with men and women in ISAP. Drawing on these interviews as well as feminist theories of the body, labor, and space, this thesis develops the concept of “embodied illegality” as a way to demonstrate the punitive and detention-like effects of the “grilletes” on its wearers’ lives. It also discusses how gender shapes men and women’s experiences of embodied illegality and suggest that—because of prevailing gender ideologies about women, motherhood, and domesticity—women may have more punitive experiences from the “grillete.” / 1 / Karla Daniela Rosas Rosas

  1. tulane:90143
Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_90143
Date January 2019
ContributorsRosas, Karla Daniela (author), Lipman, Jana (Thesis advisor), Huck, James D. (Thesis advisor), Love, M. Casey Kane (Thesis advisor), (Thesis advisor), School of Liberal Arts Latin American Studies (Degree granting institution)
PublisherTulane University
Source SetsTulane University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Formatelectronic, pages:  155
RightsNo embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law.

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