Im/Mobility at the US–Mexico Border during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In March 2020, the United States government began a series of measures designed to dramatically restrict immigration as part of its response to the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This included Title 42, which deported asylum seekers immediately and prevented them from applying for asylum. These measures worsened an already precarious situation at the US–Mexico border for an estimated 60,000 asylum seekers who were prevented, by the Trump administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ (aka MPP) policy enacted in January 2019, from remaining in the United States while they awaited their asylum hearings. In-depth interviews, participant observation, and social media analysis with humanitarian and legal advocates for asylum seekers living in a camp at the border in Matamoros, Mexico reveal that COVID-19’s impacts are not limited to public health concerns. Rather, COVID-19’s impacts center on how the Trump administration weaponized the virus to indefinitely suspend the asylum system. We argue that the Matamoros refugee camp provides a strategic vantage point to understand the repercussions of state policies of exclusion on im/mobility and survival strategies for asylum seekers. Specifically, we use the analytical lenses of the politics of im/mobility, geographies of exclusion, and asylum seeker resilience to identify how COVID-19 has shaped the im/mobility and security of the camp and its residents in unexpected ways. At the same time, our research illustrates that camp residents exercise im/mobility as a form of political visibility to contest and ameliorate their precarity as they find themselves in conditions not of their choosing.

“Divide, Divert, & Conquer” Deconstructing the Presidential Framing of White Supremacy in the COVID-19 Era

“…[sic] Trump's prime-time speech the next day (11 March) about the pandemic set the tone for his "war against the foreign virus", which would continue to take on militaristic features consistent with racist nativism as time went on. Under the motto "keeping America safe and protected", in April 2020, the idea of COVID-19 as a "threat from the South" was used by the U.S. Government to end the asylum seeker program (Blue et al 2021). Trump's "build the wall" battle cry was then added to the slogan "law and order", which together encapsulated his tough stance on immigration, along with his rejection of Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements (Hutzler 2020).…”

Políticas migratorias de control y protección en tiempos del COVID-19

“…Segundo, el hecho de que deban pasar cierto tiempo en ciudades de la frontera norte, en las que convergen diferentes grupos de migrantes 4 , deriva en que los migrantes residan en albergues y recintos en condiciones de insalubridad y hacinamiento que facilitan la transmisión de este tipo de enfermedades. Entre ellas Tijuana, la ciudad más afectada por el COVID-19 en Baja California -tercer estado con el mayor número de casos de México-, donde bajo circunstancias normales los migrantes residen en condiciones muy precarias y están expuestos a la violencia, ahora debe sumarse el riesgo al contagio del COVID-19 (Blue et al, 2021;Mckee y Del Monte, 2020). Bojórquez et al (2020) muestran cierta evidencia cuantitativa que apunta a que los migrantes y solicitantes de asilo en México tienen un mayor riesgo de contraer enfermedades respiratorias como el COVID-19, teniendo en cuenta la edad y sexo, así como las condiciones de riesgo subyacentes.…”

The Use of Photovoice Methodology to Assess Health Needs and Identify Opportunities Among Migrant Transgender Women in the U.S.-Mexico Border

“…As a result, migrants had to find temporary housing, shelters, and refugee camps. Immigration procedures were put on hold and vulnerability to organized crime became more prevalent ( 26 ). It is also essential to note that stressors related to uncertainty can also have a negative impact on immigrants' mental health ( 27 ).…”