Unheard voices at the Texas-Mexico border wall : fragmentation, citizenship, and opposition in a war on terror

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a shift has occurred in the discursive framing of undocumented Mexican immigrants who have entered the United States. The federal State has publicly proclaimed a “War on Terror” solidly coupling immigration and terrorism concerns leading to a rearticulation of “illegal aliens” as would-be “terrorists” via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This shift in the discourse has impacted the U.S.-Mexico border by re-framing this geo-socio-political boundary and its inhabitants as a potential terrorism threat to American National Security. The findings demonstrate that the Secure Fence Act of 2006 constructed people of Mexican-origin and the U.S.-Mexico border region as dangerous by for two fundamental purposes: (1) To control and manage a targeted population and; (2) To spread fear among the general population while simultaneously fashioning itself as the knowledgeable expert.