Thursday, February 26, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm
These days, as has long been the case, there is no shortage of news stories about the United States Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement or “ICE,” the agencies charged with border enforcement, detention, and deportation in the U.S. But despite the notoriety of the agencies themselves, most of us know little about the agents that work for the Border Patrol and ICE. Who are these agents, how do they come into the work, how are they trained and socialized to do their job, and how do they reconcile the political dimensions, racial inequities, and moral ambiguities of their work? Bordering on Indifference: Immigration Agents Negotiating Race and Morality answers those questions. In this talk, Professor Irene I. Vega discusses her book, which is based on interviews with immigration agents, most of them Latinas/os. At its core, Vega’s analysis is about the normalization of exclusion and about the production of indifference in institutions like the U.S. immigration system. She argues that indifference, which we can understand as apathy and detachment, is both a taught bureaucratic strategy that agents use to look away from the most conflicting aspects of their work, as well as a major product of their efforts to cultivate a moral sense of self.
Irene Vega is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Her areas of specialization are in international migration, race/ethnicity, socio-legal studies, and educational inequality. Her forthcoming book: “Bordering on Indifference: How Immigration Agents Negotiate Race and Morality” (Princeton University Press) draws on fieldwork with Border Patrol Agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deportation Officers working on the U.S.-Mexico border. The book examines the moral economy of immigration control, showing that indifference functions as both a bureaucratic resource that agents use to reconcile conflicting aspects of their work, as well as a product of agents’ efforts to cultivate a moral sense of self. You can find her research in well-regarded academic journals such as Social Problems, American Behavioral Scientist, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Theoretical Criminology.
This is an accessible event. If you have accessibility needs and need reasonable accommodations to participate they will be provided. For more information, and to make a request, please contact Ezra Bristow at ezrabristow@berkeley.edu