Frank Graziano, an alumnus of the UNM Latin American Studies program, presents, “Troubled Waters: Undocumented Migration from the Dominican Republic.”
Thousands of Dominicans risk their lives on outboard-powered wooden boats (known as yolas) to cross the Mona Passage and reach the neighboring island of Puerto Rico. As a commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Rico attracts migrants with its dollar economy and its access to the mainland without a passport or visa. For some migrants Puerto Rico is the final destination; for others it is a stopover en route to New York and other US cities.
Graziano, John D. MacArthur Professor of Hispanic Studies at Connecticut University, summarizes the causes of undocumented migration, describes the methods used by smugglers, follows the migrants from pre-departure to arrival and settlement, and details the response of federal border-enforcement and prosecution agencies. Photographs and video clips taken during the fieldwork and acquired from the US Coast Guard and Border Patrol will be presented alongside the research findings. The ethnographic research for this project included about a hundred interviews with migrants, smugglers, and US border-enforcement officials and culminates in a book, Undocumented Dominican Migration, forthcoming (2012) from the University of Texas Press.
