The externalisation of border and migration controls to transit countries adds a layer of complexity to how migration governance is understood and challenges traditional assumptions about sovereignty, the rule of law, and human rights protection. In practice, it highlights critical issues such as power asymmetries between states, the increasing securitisation of migration, the lack of protection for people on the move, and the commodification of migration management.

Inquiring into the geopolitics and micropolitics of migration management, this research problematises the externalisation of US border and migration control on Mexican territory and the enforcement of the Mexican Transit Control Regime. It addresses the evolution of this regime by tracing and analysing the policies and programmes created and implemented by Mexico in response to the US ‘crimmigration’ agenda. It examines the enforcement of migration transit control in Mexico by focusing on the bureaucratic, material, and operational dimensions of this regime. To do so, it draws on the accounts of both those who are subject to these control practices—the irregularised migrants—and those who enforce the regime on a day-to-day basis—the migration officials.

This research contributes to the understanding of the interweaving of punishment and deterrence in migration management and joins ongoing academic efforts to Southernise crimmigration and border criminologies research agendas.

• borders
• crimmigration
• mexico
• migration
• socio-legal studies

Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Share by WhatsApp Share by Mastodon