This chapter examines the Playas de Tijuana Mural Project, a transborder artistic intervention that amplifies the narratives of U.S. childhood arrivals impacted by deportation. Located along the U.S.-Mexico border, the mural features large-scale portraits of individuals forcibly removed despite their deep ties to the United States. By integrating Quick Response (QR) codes, the project links these images to first-person digital narratives from the Humanizing Deportation archive, fostering an intermedial engagement that challenges dominant discourses on migration, exclusion, and belonging. Through an analysis of the testimonies of Karla Estrada and Javier Salazar, this chapter explores the intersection of public art, digital activism, and migrant resistance. Estrada’s narrative critiques the limitations of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the moral binaries imposed on undocumented immigrants, while Salazar’s account illustrates the nexus of criminalization, forced removal, and artistic reclamation. Drawing on border studies, digital humanities, and migration scholarship, the chapter situates the mural within broader debates on intermediality, surveillance, and community storytelling. Ultimately, the Playas de Tijuana Mural Project transforms the border fence from a symbol of exclusion into a site of resistance, asserting the agency of deported Americans and demanding recognition within migration and human rights frameworks.

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Art Against the Border: Painting US Childhood Arrival Diaspora Narratives

  • Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana

摘要

This chapter examines the Playas de Tijuana Mural Project, a transborder artistic intervention that amplifies the narratives of U.S. childhood arrivals impacted by deportation. Located along the U.S.-Mexico border, the mural features large-scale portraits of individuals forcibly removed despite their deep ties to the United States. By integrating Quick Response (QR) codes, the project links these images to first-person digital narratives from the Humanizing Deportation archive, fostering an intermedial engagement that challenges dominant discourses on migration, exclusion, and belonging. Through an analysis of the testimonies of Karla Estrada and Javier Salazar, this chapter explores the intersection of public art, digital activism, and migrant resistance. Estrada’s narrative critiques the limitations of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the moral binaries imposed on undocumented immigrants, while Salazar’s account illustrates the nexus of criminalization, forced removal, and artistic reclamation. Drawing on border studies, digital humanities, and migration scholarship, the chapter situates the mural within broader debates on intermediality, surveillance, and community storytelling. Ultimately, the Playas de Tijuana Mural Project transforms the border fence from a symbol of exclusion into a site of resistance, asserting the agency of deported Americans and demanding recognition within migration and human rights frameworks.