Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 71, No. 2, 2015, pp. 244--263 doi: 10.1111/josi.12108 Continuities and Discontinuities in Human Rights Violations: Historically Situating the Psychosocial Effects of Migration M. Brinton Lykes ∗ Boston College Rachel M. Hershberg Tufts University Despite recent interest in the psychosocial effects of deportation, psychologists have rarely investigated the multiple forms of violence that compelled many un- documented migrants now living in the United States to “leave home.” This thematic narrative analysis of interviews with four Maya from Guatemala, part of a larger participatory and action research project, particularizes the experiences of Maya in the United States who are frequently subsumed under homogenizing constructs (e.g., “illegal aliens”) and labeled with universal psychological diag- noses that fail to reflect their complex histories, through which they give meaning to their lived experiences. Analyses focus on three major themes: violence and violation, multiple migrations, and suffering and survival. We illustrate how par- ticipants situate contemporary effects of deportation within the collective story of their people, connecting contemporary violations of human rights to earlier migrations due to extreme poverty and experiences of violence during and after 36 years of armed conflict. What happened last year [New Bedford raid] . . . it starts to open up the wound, or the fear, that you have held [due to the massacres during the 36-year armed conflict], because these things are not easy to erase. ... the wound is always there and when you open it, it burns anew.” (Interview, Julia, New England, 2008) ∗ Correspondence concerning the article should be sent to M. Brinton Lykes, Boston College, Lynch School of Education, Campion 341, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 [e-mail: lykes@bc.edu]. The authors thank the participants and our coresearchers in the larger MHRP project. This work has been generously supported by an anonymous contribution to the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. 244 C  2015 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues