This book analyzes the different ways in which forced migration comes together with organized violence in the Americas, focusing specifically on the migration corridor from Central America, through Mexico and on to the United States. No matter their starting point, most South and Central American migrants to the United States must eventually traverse Mexico, and often many other borders beforehand, to reach their destination. As border controls tighten, for many migrants turning back is not a possibility, or something they desire. And so, when faced with hardening policies, migrants are often forced into situations of increased violence and precarity, without a shift in their ultimate objective. This book analyzes the complex social situations of everyday violence, and increasingly aggressive border controls, which face migrants in Mexico, as well as their exposure to a different kind of violence during their migration trajectory through the criminal actors such as gangs, cartels, and corrupt law enforcements that seek to make a profit from them. The book takes a critical approach on migration policies and on the externalization of borders by analyzing their effects on the trajectories and experiences of migrants themselves. It shows that the more migrants’ opportunities and rights during transit are hindered, the more they are at risk of exposure to these actors. Foregrounding the voices of migrants, this book offers fresh insights into debates surrounding migration, politics, international relations, and anthropology in the Americas.

Table of Contents:
Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction: Approaches to organized violence and forced migration in transit through Mexico Ximena Alba Villalever, Stephanie Schütze, Ludger Pries, and Oscar Calderón Morillón Part I – The effects of violence and border regimes on migration processes Chapter 2: Violence and Central American migrants on Mexico’s southern border Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner Chapter 3: Entanglement of violences: Doubly forced migrants transiting across the Americas Soledad Álvarez Velasco and Bruno Miranda Chapter 4: Externalization, violence, and migrants’ lengthy wait at Mexico’s northern border M. Dolores París-Pombo Part II – Forced migrants’ experiences with organized violence Chapter 5: Investigating in-transit migration through Mexico within the context of violence and the pandemic Oscar Calderón Morillón, Amir Estrada, Marlene Rodríguez, Axel Ortiz, Karla Gutiérrez, Estefanía Gutiérrez, Aranza Climaco, Antonio Amat, Alan Rodríguez, Javier Solís, and Eusebio Moto Chapter 6: Forced migration and organized violence between the Northern Triangle of Central America and Mexico: Evidence from a 2020 survey Ludger Pries, Berna Şafak Zülfikar Savci, Ximena Alba Villalever, and Oscar Calderón Morillón Chapter 7: Caravanas migrantes as counter-strategies against violence and (im)mobility Ximena Alba Villalever and Stephanie Schütze Chapter 8: Ties along the arterial border in Mexico: Groups, institutions, and information Alejandra Díaz de León and John Doering-White Part III – Gender and violence in migration trajectories Chapter 9: Gendered patterns of mobility and access to refugee protection of Central American migrants and refugees in Mexico Susanne Willers Chapter 10: Organized violence in life histories of Central American migrant women Melanie Nayeli Wieschalla Chapter 11: Waiting as violence: The interactions of gender and waiting mechanisms in the asylum systems of the United States and Mexico Pia Berghoff and Lya Cuéllar