Abstract

In this paper, I reinterpret the experiences and perception of child migrants through the lens of racialization and White Supremacy. I do this by advancing work by Cheryl Harris and Lisa Guenther on the critical phenomenology of “Whiteness as Property” (WaP) and the protection of “White Space.” I build on this foundation by examining the way WaP regulates sociogenic and emotive states in order to protect its accrued resources, resulting in an “economy” of racial identity where ownership produces and is produced by particular societal structures and relationships. I use these concepts in order to understand the framework that willfully misinterprets racialized children. I establish the Child as a sociogenic concept and symbol of national futurity and universalism, and therefore of the futurity and universalism of Whiteness; reiterating and interrogating the inconsistency that many immigration and child activists point to, that there is no such thing as an “illegal” or racialized child. Thus, the irregular child migrants (ICM) either loses the privileges and protections afforded to children or must dawn the White Mask through a performance of victimhood. Through this framework, I undertake an examination of the ICMs as portrayed in the legal process using tools from legal sensorial studies and critical phenomenology, demonstrating the sociogenic shifts that occur for the ICM and how these shifts work to protect WaP.