Undocumented Dominican Migration

The Psychology of Migrant Motivation

The Psychology of Migrant Motivation Cognition “People Don’t Think” Early in my research, frustrated by the brevity of an informant’s responses, I had a realization that changed my perceptions: migrant decision making is less ponderous than a life-threatening and life-transforming transition would seem to warrant; is highly emotive in its cognition; is often inaccessible to expression; and, even when accessed, is generally articulated simply and directly, with minimal narrative detail. I would ask, for example , “You took another yola trip after you almost died at sea and after your friend drowned. How did you overcome the fear?” That seemed to me an important point—fear in relation to repeated attempts—but in response informants looked puzzled and said: “Like I told you, to get to Puerto Rico,” or “Because there’s no work here.” Some informants used truncated responses simply for evasion, but for others what was essential to me was implicit to them and as such both irrelevant and difficult to express. The assumptions, concerns, priorities, education, and relative wealth that conditioned my inquiries were negotiating with the cognition of informants who approached social reality, derived meaning from it, interpreted it, and narrated it in accord with their own cultural norms and social station. The informants’ silence was saying, in effect: Those details are part of my everyday life; I take them for The Psychology of Migrant Motivation 127 granted without giving them a thought and without analyzing my reasons and emotions. Migrant motivation, and even the haphazard nature of migration, are misunderstood insofar as one expects that migrants process information in the same manner as the privileged outsiders who study them. The contrast is clearest when experiences abroad are interpreted within migrant frames of reference. Upon arrival by yola to a Puerto Rican beach, Félix was asked if he spoke English, said he did not, and thought Border Patrol repatriated him because he lacked that proficiency. Morena, on a Coast Guard cutter after interdiction, was told that she would have been taken ashore (for prosecution, after a second entry attempt) if Puerto Rico were closer, but Morena understood this admonishment as a kind offer of transportation in recognition of her perseverance. And Fernando, when he had the opportunity to speak during the resentencing hearing following his smuggling conviction, said to the judge: “I know I committed an offense, the offense of trying to come to this country illegally. I know I am guilty of that offense.” These simple expressions bring into relief a cultural perspective and manner of cognition that must be taken into account if one purports to understand migrant motivation. Fernando’s comment, for example, is remarkable in its conception of culpability. The court regarded Fernando as a felon, punished him heavily, and expected his remorse; but Fernando, who was a crew member on a yola, saw himself more or less as another migrant. That self-perception—as a migrant, not a felon—was critical to his decision to participate in what the United States regards as a crime. One can impose accusations and interpretations that redefine Fernando before the law, but nevertheless in his self-perception he was a responsible son migrating to support his mother.1 When informants are asked about migrant motivation they often preface the response with the phrase “La gente no piensa” (People don’t think). The phrase summarizes a tendency to make critical, life-changing decisions without analysis of the risks, benefits, and consequences. As Rafael put it, “I feel bad here” is the extent of many deliberations before boarding a yola. Sonia elaborated: “‘I’m going to do this because I want to do it. Because this is what I want.’ They don’t stop to think about what they’re going to experience, what’s going to happen, how they’re going to earn money, how they’re going to live their lives there.” Someone who thinks it through says, “‘No, if I’m going to do this, why am I going?’ But there 128 Undocumented Dominican Migration are a lot of people who simply say ‘I’m going, period, and I’m not going to think about it.’ I’m going, period; I’m gone. A lot of people do that.” What are you going to do when you get there? Run. Do you know where? No. Is there someone you can contact upon arrival? My cousin. Does he know...