Health and migration: biosecurity in Mexican migration policy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Linking migrants with disease is nothing new. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic this idea was exacerbated and governments around the world took measures to curb mobility. This article addresses, from a biopolitical perspective, the way in which the health discourse, based on biosecurity, was present in Mexico’s migration policies during the pandemic. It discusses how the discourse of security and biosecurity were intertwined and resulted in measures of containment and deportation of migrants. It also looks at the role that migrant caravans played in enhancing these measures.