México. The US-Mexico Border: More than a Political Line
| Autor | Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S. J. |
| Páginas | 57-96 |
:
- :
Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S. J.
On October , a group of Honduran migrants le Sa n Pedro Sula in a
‘caravan’ headed toward the United States. Travelling mostly by foot, they
were eeing violence and seeking a better life for themselves and t heir fami-
lies. On October, the caravan reached Mexican territory, and the group
grew from hundreds to thousands wit h rough estimates between , to
, migrants. Days later, a second group of approximately , Central
Americans arrived at the Southern Mexican border, and a third group of
around migrants from El Salvador a lso reached the Mexican border on
October. By November , three groups of migrants, which included
children, women, and families mostly from Central American countries,
were moving through Mexico intending to reach the -Mexico border.
Political responses from the United States and Mexico were varied.
President Trump tweeted several times about the caravans. He warned
Central American governments that aid would be cut unless they stopped
people from eeing their countries. He criminalized migrants claiming
the presence of Middle Eastern people among them, warned mig rants not
to continue or military force would be used, and even likened the move-
ment of migrants to a US invasion. President Trump tweeted on October
“Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States un-
less you go through the legal process. is is an invasion of our Country
and our Militar y is waiting for you!” (Trump, ). Mexico’s government
strengthened security and migration controls at its southern border and
oered migrants to apply for asylum. Also, the Mexica n government estab-
lished a temporary program ca lled Estás en tu casa (You are Home) oering
ese estimates are based on reports from Secretaría de Gobernación and the (International
Migration Organization).
President Trump (@realDonaldTrump) tweeted on October : “Sadly, it looks like Mexico's
Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United
States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and
Military that this is a National Emergency. Must change laws!”
Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S. J.
migrants temporary employment, health ser vices, and access to education
for their children. Benets were contingent on enrolment in the program
as well as permanence in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca. is response
sought to dissuade migrants from entering Mexico and showing t he United
States government that Mexico was capable of managing migration ows.
Local humanitarian groups, many of them faith-based, aided the
caravan during t heir journey through Mexico. Churches and local commu-
nities scrambled to oer as much support as possible, especially to ch ildren
and women. But migrant shelters that exist all across migration routes in
Mexico are not designed to house thousands of migrants (see Morello, ).
us, local and state governments had to step in to guarantee safety, shel-
ter, and food for migrants as the physical demands of covering the journey
mostly on foot took a toll on them. e Red Cross maintained a presence
providing emergency support. e advocated for migrant human rig hts
and fair treatment while t he focused on those interested in applying
for asylum in Mexico. In spite of all the media attention, the risk of violence
against migra nts always remained. Furthermore, tensions were still present,
and the journey up north remained uncer tain at all times.
According to the World Bank (), in , Honduran remittances
represented close to of its gross domestic product (), for El Sal-
vador, and for Guatemala. ese statist ics indicate the presence of these
immigrant groups in t he United States. us, an America n job market that
feeds o of unskilled mig rants and the possibility of sending remittances to
their home country stil l remains a strong pull factor for Central American
nationals. However, the movement of migrants through Mex ico is anything
but new. In the past few decades, migrants travelling i n groups have moved
through Mexico either attempting to reach the United States or trying to
raise awareness regarding human rights violations against migrants in
Mexico. Marcelo Pisani, Regional Direc tor for Central America, Nort h
America, and the Caribbean, said: “e caravan phenomenon in Central
America is another expression of a migration process that the region has
been facing for quite some time… It is a mixed migration ow, driven by
economic factors, family reunication, violence, and the search for inter-
national protection, among others” (, ). e timing of this event, so
At the moment of completing this document there were three large groups of migrants in Mexico.
One reached Mexico City, another one was in the state of Oaxaca, and the last one was still in the
state of Chiapas.
México: e US-Mexico Border: More than a Political Line
close to the United States mid-term elections, brought added media cover-
age and fostered a highly contested political cli mate.
e movement of migrants through Mexico, the political responses
aimed to control them, the emergence of humanitarian actors that sup-
port migrants, asy lum seekers, and deportees, and the permanent threat of
violence illustrate how -Mexico border dy namics go beyond geograph-
ical and political markers. Applying the concept of ‘bordering practices’
(Vaughan-Williams, , p.), this chapter considers migration patterns
or irregular mig rants, deportees, asylum seekers, the proliferation of migra-
tion controls, surveillance in Mexico, the emergence of humanitarian ac-
tors, and an emerging violent situation as the main dy namic to understand
the current state of the -Mexican border that has been externalized to
the Mexican southern border(Olayo-Méndez, ; see also Mountz, )
Bordering practices beyond the -Mexico border
Borders are more than political lines prescr ibing territorial limits. ey func-
tion as spaces for economic and social exchange and have become expressions
of power that determine who belongs and who does not (Popescu, , pp.
-). Hence, we need to move from viewing borders as xed places to an un-
derstanding of bordering practices which refer to those act ivities that may af-
fect the constituting, sust aining, or modifyi ng of borders (Vaughan-Williams,
, p. ). Such practices appear as processes, practices, discourses, sym-
bols, institutions, or networks through which power works and include not
only “discursive or emotional landscapes of social powers,” but also “tech-
nical landscapes of control and surveillance” (Johnson et al., , p. ).
Bordering practices may be intentional or unintentional; and performed or
fostered by state or non-state actors, including citizens, private security com-
panies, and other people engaged in processes of human mobilit y. e focus
on bordering practices encourages attention to ‘everyday’ practices of control
over mobility and the eects of those controls in people’s lives and dierent
social interactions (Parker & Vaughan-Williams, , p. ).
Ariel, a -year-old Honduran migrant, was on his h journey to
the United States when I met him. He travelled for the rst time in .
at time, he was able to enter the United States irregularly, lived there for
two years and was deported in . Aer waiting four years, Ar iel departed
again from Honduras to the United States in August . He hoped a friend
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu prueba