Predatory rentierism in irregular migration: how debts, threats, and rackets shape lives on the move

This article introduces the framework of predatory rentierism to account for pervasive but under-theorized forms of violence and their perpetrators across the process of irregular migration. Predatory rentierism is the practice of deriving gains from the ownership or control of scarce assets in a manner that threatens the renter's basic rights, and it can take various forms, from extortion and bribery to usurious loans and ransoms. Drawing on ethnographic observation and 70 semi-structured and in-depth interviews in Guatemala and the U.S., I demonstrate how predatory rentierism interpenetrates each node in the migration trajectory, thriving on the intersecting marginalities of irregular migrants. I argue that the predatory rentierism framework helps to surface under-examined drivers of migration, make sense of transit and integration experiences, and contribute to understanding why remittances can fail to produce sustainable hometown development. I close by outlining future directions for studying predatory rentierism in irregular migration.