The “Borderlandization” of Mexico: Mexico’s New Policies of Deportation and Detention of Minor Migrants and their Effects on Migrant Movement

Abstract

Purpose: This chapter analyzes the policies of immigration control implemented in Mexico in 2014 to deter the migration of Central Americans to the United States, and their impact on Central American youth migrants.

Methods: This chapter draws from three pools of data: (1) participant observation and interviews conducted with minor migrants in Mexico from 2015 to 2019; (2) Mexican and US government data on detentions and deportations of Central American minor migrants; and (3) publicly available information on Mexican and Guatemalan government programs and media campaigns targeted at addressing the migration of Central American minor migrants.

Findings: This chapter posits that the policies of migrant detention and deportation implemented in Mexico in 2014 turned the entire country into a borderland for Central Americans. These policies expanded the areas of migrant surveillance, detention, and deportation beyond Mexico’s traditional border regions, which, in turn, made youth migrants’ journeys through Mexico more precarious and prone to violence.

Research implications: This chapter examines the impact of immigration and border control policies implemented in Mexico and anti-immigration propaganda on Central American youth, and it demonstrates how Mexico has been converted into an expanded US border territory in an attempt to prevent migrants from reaching the United States’ physical borderland.

Value: This chapter analyzes the impact of US-led detention and deportation policies aimed at Central American migrants throughout Mexico, rather than just in the traditional border regions. These relatively novel policies are at the forefront of immigration control and warrant special attention.

Citation

García, A.A.E. (2022), "The “Borderlandization” of Mexico: Mexico’s New Policies of Deportation and Detention of Minor Migrants and their Effects on Migrant Movement", Atterberry, A.L., McCallum, D.G., Tu, S., Lutz, A. and Bass, L.E. (Ed.) Children and Youths' Migration in a Global Landscape (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 29), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 11-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120220000029002