On the one hand, [right-wing border militia] are very pro law enforcement. They feel like, “this law enforcement. We have to go out and help border patrol do these things.” They're doing their best, but they clearly don't have enough boots on the ground to catch everyone who's coming through. But on the other hand, there's also a lot of critique of the state, that when the state is doing it, they're going to do it badly. A government-made wall will always have its holes.

Emine Fidan Elcioglu on her Social Problems journal article, “Armed Citizens on the Border: How Guns Fuel Anti-Immigration Politics in America." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

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Guest

Emine Fidan Elcioglu

@FidanElcioglu

Emine Fidan Elcioglu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. She currently teaches courses on critical migration studies, race, and qualitative research methods.

Professor Elcioglu’s research focuses on immigration political struggles as a way to explore the relationship between dominant and dominated groups; as well as the relationship between state and civil society under conditions of growing inequality. Most recently, she is the author of Divided by the Wall: Progressive and Conservative Immigration Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Guns Fuel US Anti-Immigration Politics / Emine Fidan Elcioglu

Emine Fidan Elcioglu