To develop the analysis, we first reflect on the fundamental question of racialization in migratory contexts, then proceed with the narration of the two situations in a reflection that incorporates the complexities that these processes produce in the life experience of immigrant women. We are interested in the details, variations, and microforms of oppression these stories tell us: the multiple forms of shuffling between vulnerabilities, racializations, and discriminatory migration policies.
We propose an analysis of how migration policies have a gendered character, which produces specific vulnerabilities for immigrant women. We want to state that these policies create a situation in which distrust and racism directed at immigrant groups are even more pronounced when discussing racialized immigrant women. This situation affects how the bureaucracies of the State see these women and how it encodes their reactions in the field of hysteria and incompetence.
The first ethnographic example demonstrates how the Irish visa policy makes immigrant women more vulnerable, weakening their migratory experience. The second example deals with immigrant women of Irish nationality but whose racialization produces a tense relationship with the bureaucracies of their children's schools. Incidents at school are coded in terms of race and prejudice, blaming mothers precisely because they are different.
Looking at two extreme situations of the legal situation of female immigrants – both those who obtain an accompanying visa related to their husband's work visa and those who already have Irish nationality – we demonstrate how racialization associated with gender issues affects women more. It produces situations of vulnerability that expose them to domestic violence, exacerbated exploitation of work, and discrimination against their children at school because they are considered incompetent in raising their children, among other difficulties.
