Necropolitics and International Migration in Mexico

Autor: Javier Trevino-Rangel
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Necropower in North America ISBN: 9783030736583
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-73659-0_9
Popis: The chapter argues that hundreds of undocumented migrants, mainly from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, are kidnapped, tortured, and killed every year in Mexico. However, Central American migrants in Mexico merit little attention in scholarly literature. The majority of the studies on this subject claim that the abuses and atrocities against migrants are a consequence of what is called the “securitization” of Mexican migration policy. According to this literature, the Mexican government sees undocumented migrants in transit as an incontestable risk to national security and has made laws and migratory practices more restrictive. However, there is not enough evidence to properly sustain these claims. This chapter offers an alternative explanation inspired by the work of Achille Mbembe on necropolitics. This chapter argues that undocumented migrants in transit in Mexico suffer different forms of abuse because they are seen merely as a “thing” that can be exchanged, as an object with the potential to produce money. Migrants go through a process of “thingification” and, concomitantly, of dehumanization. As with any commodity, there comes the point when the lives of migrants lose all value—when they can no longer generate profit. They become dispensable and hence disposable.
Databáze: OpenAIRE