Securitization in Mexico and its impact on transit migration

Abstract

In 2019, pressured by the United States, the Mexican government implemented a migration policy enforced through military means. Thousands of personnel were stationed at national borders with the aim of curbing the irregular migration of individuals from Central America to the United States. This approach, termed 'Securitization' in some studies, serves as the focal point of this article. Its primary objective is to highlight the impact of this policy on the vulnerability of migrants in transit, particularly in terms of their human rights. We will illustrate how this policy has led to both physical and symbolic forms of aggression. To conduct this analysis, we employed a qualitative methodology and utilized the Atlas Ti program to identify and document these impacts. Fieldwork was carried out in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, from 2019 to 2022.