Border Ex­ter­n­al­isa­tion and Vi­ol­ence Along Mi­gra­tion Routes in “Remain in Mexico”

De­vel­op­ment sum­mary

Elena Barham and Marco Al­co­cer’s pre­print in­vest­ig­ates the se­cur­ity con­sequences of border ex­ter­n­al­isa­tion—by which des­tin­a­tion states press trans­it coun­tries to in­tensi­fy mi­gra­tion en­force­ment—through the 2019 Mi­grant Pro­tec­tion Pro­to­cols (“Remain in Mexico”). Draw­ing on ori­gin­al data on mi­gra­tion routes, it finds that the Pro­to­cols pushed Mexico to tight­en mi­gra­tion en­force­ment at its south­ern border, in­creas­ing hom­icides along mi­grant routes and being as­so­ci­ated with great­er cartel pres­ence and ex­ploit­a­tion of mi­grants.