The ninth installment of our blog series on 'Childhood and Migration,' Ángel A. Escamilla García (Yale University, US) discusses the journey of Central American children to the US and in particular their experience of violence while in transit through Mexico.
July 24, 2024
The journey across Mexico that migrants from Central America must complete to reach the U.S. border is marked by a violence and precarity that migrants have no choice but to endure. I have long been interested in how minior migrants, a fairly visible presence within groups on the move, experience the violence of these journeys. During my ethnographic research across Mexico, I discovered that migrant children coming mostly from Northern Central America which encompasses Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, have experiences with violence that differ from those of adults. Moreover, in the case of Central American minors crossing into Mexico, the precarity of their journeys is conditioned by Mexico’s immigration enforcement and policies that criminalize their movement.
For minor migrants traveling alone, the journey begins long before leaving their countries of origin. During my fieldwork among Central American youth, I documented how many minors actually migrate within their own countries before deciding to migrate to the United States. A combination of poverty and violence pushes them to seek protection or labor opportunities in other areas of their home countries, often by following their families or friends who migrated before them. However, once resettled, these internal migrants often encounter similarly dangerous or exploitative conditions. Having moved away from their families and settled in new places, young men continue to face labor abuses and exploitation, while young women also often encounter sexual harassment and discrimination. This situation leaves these youth with no other option but to leave their countries. As one minor told me, leaving for the United States “was never in my plans, but I don’t see another exit.” Regardless of how they ultimately decided to embark on the long journey, the United States represents a shining, yet elusive, promised land for almost all of these migrant youth.
After the often rushed and emotional departure , migrant youth from Northern Central America get no respite. They immediately face the harsh reality of crossing Mexico, a 2,000-mile obstacle that stands between them and their final destination. During the time I spent in Mexico researching these youths’ migration Mexico, significant changes to the migration pathways were unfolding, including the implementation of Mexico’s South Border Plan, which increased surveillance at the Mexico-Guatemala border by adding checkpoints, soldiers, and immigration officers along typical migration routes. I documented instances of extortion, verbal and physical abuse, imprisonment (alongside adult migrants), as well as cases in which youth were forced by authorities to sign a deportation order instead of being permitted to request asylum or other humanitarian relief to remain in Mexico. These policies and the violent environment have transformed Mexico into a "Borderland" for minors, who have become explicit targets of the Mexican government’s immigration crackdown, and who are increasingly detained not just in border areas but across all of Mexico. Meanwhile, the Mexican government itself has portrayed the act of migrating through the country as a perilous journey, producing posters and media campaigns that ignore the Mexican state’s own role in criminalizing migration and persecuting migrants (of all ages).
Ultimately, my research asks: How do minors themselves deal with this precarity and persecution? My fieldwork taught me valuable lessons about their resilience, in particular their ability to comprehend the cultural codes around the increasing borderlandization of Mexico that has made them targets and criminalized their movement. Among the most distinctive strategies I witnessed was their attempt to dress and act like Mexican minors while moving across Mexico, realizing that by doing so, they would be less likely to be identified as outsiders. Changes in their hairstyle, fashion, and even accents were among the strategies that youth adopted in order to look more like Mexican minors and avoid surveillance and potential detention. Although such strategies were common, they were not foolproof, and minors still faced detention and deportation by the Mexican government (Escamilla García 2019). And yet, despite increasing restrictions, youth have continued to demonstrate creativity and resilience in seeking to overcome obstacles and achieve their dream of migrating.
Migrants who are legally minors (under the age of 18) and traveling alone and undocumented in Mexico are also considered a vulnerable group and are entitled to special protections by the state. For example, if detained in Mexico, they may be placed under the custody of special institutions for their care instead of detention centers designed for adults. Additionally, they can undergo screening (though this doesn't always occur) to determine if it is in their best interest to return to their country. However, this system of protection by the Mexican state can, in reality, often pose an obstacle to youths’ desire to continue their migrant journeys and reach the U.S. On numerous occasions, minor migrants expressed to me their reluctance to engage with any institution that, in the name of protection of youth, would hinder their journey northward. Contrary to common perceptions, minors possess a great capacity to learn from the obstacles they face and adapt their strategies accordingly, and this capacity can be at odds with the policies that are, in theory, put in place to protect them.
Currently, migrants from countries far beyond Latin America are on the move across Mexico to the United States, and despite the violence and precarity of the migrant journey, minors continue to arrive at the U.S. border in record numbers. Therefore, it is more important than ever to study the migratory journey of minor migrants to better understand their complex migration experiences and the role that the states play in creating precarious conditions for this especially vulnerable yet resilient populations.
Yale University
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