Abstract This article argues that the killing of Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe at the ‘Tropicália’ kiosk in Rio de Janeiro exposes a constitutive limit in dominant normative theories of migration. Rather than treating the case as an episode of private violence or labor conflict, it reads ‘Tropicália’ as a scene in which border regimes operate beyond territorial admission, through racialized labor, documentation, policing, and everyday vulnerability. In doing so, the article challenges idealized and presentist approaches that evaluate migration primarily through […]