Inmigrants as messenger of our time: sacrifice and fracture as causes of homeless situation

The following text constitutes a critical reflection arises from the experience of the “Bienvenidos” program at the “Fundación Gente de la Calle en Chile”, especially from the connection, part of the program since 2016 until these days, with migrants who are homeless or about to become homeless. The thesis stands for identifying elements of an identity’s operation such as sacrifice and fracture, in the situation of homeless migrants, creating a scenario of severe violations that increase the odds of ending in this social status. To support this statement; first, we will discuss the migration context in Chile, emphasizing on the social construction of the subject; second, the subjective configuration that occurs in the migrant when trying to materialize his migratory project. Sacrifice and other factors such as uprooting and the lack of “intimate”, non-institutional, networks are elements that worsen the identity fracture, constituting the identity of the migrant from the horizon of bare life, revealing structural violence where everybody will eventually become part of, being radicalized in such cases. The migrant embodies the accentuation of human fragility, being considered a messenger of our time. Finally, this paper will draw attention to the importance of knowing the difference between vulnerability and complexity to deal with the problem of this social reality.