Tan lejos de Dios, tan cerca de Estados Unidos. Las Dinámicas actuales de la Migración Mexicana a Estados Unidos

Resumen

Increasing protectionism of US immigration policies has had a significant impact on migrants’ security on the US-Mexican border. This work examines human security in the border area, considering three main stages of an unauthorized migrant’s journey: clandestine crossing, detention in the US and deportation to Mexico. After the border wall was constructed, human security on the border deteriorated as migrants were pushed to cross in remote and dangerous areas, where criminal organizations increasingly profit from human trafficking and extortions of migrants. Clandestine border crossing represents, however, just one of the stages, during which the human rights of migrants are considerably affected. US policies have given way to numerous and prolonged detentions of the migrants, from which private prisons and detention facilities have benefited. Ultimately, deportation, of which the numbers have been increasing annually, has become the most stressful part of a migrant’s journey; deported ex-migrants amass in border cities and soon become socio-economically marginalized and depressed. This analysis of the three stages suggests that US immigration policies carry high human cost, and thus, lack sustainability.