Mexico, a Territory of Forced Refuge Production

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the circumstances that have transformed Mexico into a territory of forced refuge production. The central premise is that the COVID-19 pandemic provided the United States with an opportunity to streamline its asylum system, which resulted in a migration overflow in Mexico, reinforced by bilateral agreements and global migration governance. It examines the role of international organizations such as UNHCR, GIZ, and IM in implementing mechanisms that slow migration flows and encourage irregularized migrants to remain in various Mexican cities. The study shows that Mexico lacks the institutional capacity, adequate public policies, and sufficient resources to address the growing demand for the granting of refugee status, produced by a context of border externalization. Through the triangulation of interviews, ethnographic work, and documentary analysis, this study provides empirical and conceptual evidence on the mechanisms that have consolidated Mexico as a key link in global migration governance and on the asylum system as a mechanism of control and containment of cross-border movements of people within a regional migration regime in North America.