Reduced to Bare Life: State Violence and LGBTQ+ Migrants in the Immigration System
Faculty Mentor
Judy Rohrer
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
4-14-2026 11:40 AM
End Date
4-14-2026 12:00 PM
Location
PUB 319
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies
Abstract
This research examines the experiences of LGBTQ+ migrants fleeing criminalization, violence, and discrimination in their home countries and seeking refuge in the United States. For LGBTQ+ migrants, fear of persecution, state-sanctioned violence, and even death because of their sexual or gender identity intensifies the urgency of migration. Using Giorgio Agamben's concept of bare life — a condition in which biological life is stripped of humanity, freedom, and rights to the point that it is no longer considered fully human — I argue that the dehumanizing treatment LGBTQ+ migrants are escaping from in their home countries is the same treatment mirrored within the US immigration system itself, particularly within detention centers and the asylum process. By drawing from queer migration scholars, immigration law, and public health research, this paper demonstrates the troubling paradox of the US positioning itself as a global beacon of refuge for LGBTQ+ populations by recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity under the "particular social group" category for asylum eligibility, while simultaneously reproducing the same conditions of bare life these individuals find themselves trapped in once again.
Recommended Citation
Hopkins, Olivia, "Reduced to Bare Life: State Violence and LGBTQ+ Migrants in the Immigration System" (2026). 2026 Symposium. 8.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2026/op_2026/o2_2026/8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Reduced to Bare Life: State Violence and LGBTQ+ Migrants in the Immigration System
PUB 319
This research examines the experiences of LGBTQ+ migrants fleeing criminalization, violence, and discrimination in their home countries and seeking refuge in the United States. For LGBTQ+ migrants, fear of persecution, state-sanctioned violence, and even death because of their sexual or gender identity intensifies the urgency of migration. Using Giorgio Agamben's concept of bare life — a condition in which biological life is stripped of humanity, freedom, and rights to the point that it is no longer considered fully human — I argue that the dehumanizing treatment LGBTQ+ migrants are escaping from in their home countries is the same treatment mirrored within the US immigration system itself, particularly within detention centers and the asylum process. By drawing from queer migration scholars, immigration law, and public health research, this paper demonstrates the troubling paradox of the US positioning itself as a global beacon of refuge for LGBTQ+ populations by recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity under the "particular social group" category for asylum eligibility, while simultaneously reproducing the same conditions of bare life these individuals find themselves trapped in once again.
