Transgressing Humanitarian Borders in Southern Mexico: Turning Obstacles into Resources

Guillermo Candiz and Tanya Basok

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2025, vol. 40, issue 4, 1023-1043

Abstract: Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants attempt to travel through Mexico toward the U.S. hoping to claim asylum, but today the Mexican government, supported by international organizations, strongly urges them to seek refuge in Mexico. In this article, based on research on Mexico’s refugee infrastructure and its impact on migrants in Southern Mexico, we portray this form of humanitarianism as a bordering practice to prevent or, at least slow down, this northbound movement. Yet, as we illustrate in this article, despite this and other bordering practices, migrants remain determined to continue their journey. Furthermore, many migrants apply for refugee status in Mexico not in compliance with but in defiance of the bordering regime by turning this bordering practice into a resource to attain their goals. Hence, we demonstrate that migrants effectively merge what critical border and Autonomy of Migration scholars often present as opposing forces: bordering practices and migrants’ defiance.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2024.2382692

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