Fiji-Indian. Radical. Forced Migrant. Juris Doctor. Reluctant Dreamer. Undocumented. Unafraid. Unapologetic. Unashamed.
Receiving asylum requires painting one’s country in racialist, colonialist terms, while at the same time disavowing the United States’ role in contributing to the oppressive conditions that one fled. For queer immigrants in particular, the asylum process is one in which applicants must invoke U.S. “progressiveness” against the backdrop of Third World “backwardness.
—Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenship, and Border Crossings. Edited by Eithne Luibhéid and Lionel Cantú, Jr. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Any #Immigration policy that ignores the fundamental difference in the human development index (HDI) between Mexico and the United States is not a sound way to tackle migration from our neighbor.
