The tentacular violence of migration policies: the case of Latin American Women living in the UK

This article develops the concept of tentacular violence with reference to hostile immigration policies and foregrounds how it structures and amplifies inviable harms and diverse forms of violence. It examines the effects of tentacular violence on the experiences and well-being of Latin American women living in the UK. By tracing these women’s interactions with the immigration system, welfare and criminal justice systems, the article sheds new light on often hidden and ignored experiences that demand not only better dialogue across critical social policy, border studies and feminist theory, but also reveals how these fields can intersect in practice. The analysis draws on interviews with Latin American women living in the UK and frontline practitioners (N = 15), documentary materials such as medical letters and photographs, and fieldwork observations. The findings show that migration policies shape and intensify overlapping harms that are more accurately understood as violence. These include legal harms, such as barriers to securing legal representation, psychological harms, including pervasive fear and insecurity, and reproductive harms, ranging from forced separation from family to precarious health and exploitative working conditions. Through its connected, tentacular and far-reaching nature, immigration governance entails a form of violence that blurs the boundaries between gendered interpersonal violence and state violence. The article conceptualises this assemblage as tentacular violence, highlighting the diffuse yet patterned reach of policy-driven practices into the intimate, social, embodied and routine lives of immigrant women.