Discretion-as-Politics in Immigration Processes: The Case of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the US

Abstract

Trump administration’s anti-immigration measures affected dramatically the lives of unaccompanied migrant children (unaccompanied minors-UAMs) at the Southern border. This article investigates how and the extent to which the ‘discretionary power’ of immigration officials served the political objective of obstructing UAMs’ prospects of immigration relief. By drawing on qualitative empirical data, this article finds that border officials and the Attorney General employed ‘discretion-as-politics’ to block UAMs’ prospects of regularizing their immigration status in the US, which was consistent with the political agenda of the Trump administration.