Negotiating Survival: Central American Refugee Women in Mexico and the Politics of Deservingness

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the difficulties Central American refugee women face when applying for refugee protection in Mexico and how they negotiate survival during this process. Claiming refugee protection is an important legal mechanism to ensure survival, but managing this process successfully is difficult, not only because of the bureaucratic complexities but also because of structural and political constraints. Research has addressed the difficulties migrant women face while in transit and in the United States, but there is less analysis on the limitations in accessing refugee protection in transit countries such as Mexico. Therefore, this article examines the main barriers women face by considering the social and spatial specifics of two different reception sites, the southern Mexican city of Tapachula and Mexico City, in the centre of the country. Drawing on ethnographic field research and interviews with refugees and practitioners, this research seeks to understand women’s agency in dealing with adversity in reception contexts. Analysis showed that women need to engage in micro‐level negotiations with gatekeepers in host communities to gain access to humanitarian assistance and social rights. In addition, it has showed that access to scarce resources depends on personal performance in terms of vulnerability and “deservingness.” This demonstrates the complexities refugee women encounter in the local context, but also the role of institutional constraints to humanitarian attention in contrast to an integral understanding of rights. Furthermore, the obstacles faced by refugees and the generation of uncertainty and waiting must be analysed as a political strategy to prevent effective access to asylum in Mexico.

Networks and Contested Identities in the Refugee Journey

“…Before they can use these networks awaiting them at the destination countries, however, the women must survive the reception contexts in transit, which re-victimise and exclude women. Examining the reception contexts in Tapachula and Mexico City, Willers (2022) finds that women participate in daily routines and social engagement activities in the shelter in order to be constructed as being in the shelter not because of laziness, but because of "bad luck." These perceptions impact the length of stay of the women in the shelters.…”

“…As articulated throughout the articles in this thematic issue, we argue further that the networks refugees encounter in their journeys are marked by (contested) identities imposed on them by the states in which they seek to resettle and the local societies where they are able to finally resettle, and that the meanings of these identities are at times reinforced and, other times, resisted by refugees as they traverse structural barriers and social norms in different contexts and over time. The articles in this thematic issue provide case studies for understanding networks and contested identities in the refugee journey: Syrian and Afghan refugees in Europe (Belabbas et al, 2022), Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon (Chang, 2022), Yemeni and Afghan refugees in South Korea (Sheikh et al, 2022), Central American refugees in Tapachula and Mexico City (Willers, 2022), Tamil refugees in Australia (Mehta et al, 2022), and the construction of social identity of refugees and recently settled migrants in Portugal (Sales et al, 2022). The articles illustrate the importance of complex identities and refugee networks across four core areas, as outlined below.…”