The Differential Inclusion Based on the Stratified Rights Under the Humanitarian Control Regimes: The Experiences of Latin American and Other Refugee-Migrants in the Mexican Asylum System

In recent years, especially since the mid-2010s, Mexico has been greatly affected by United States. border control policies that seek to prevent the movement of migrants into the U.S. Furthermore, with the increased presence of international organizations such as UNHCR and IOM in the North American region, Mexico has been simultaneously providing refugees with protection and at the same time containing the mobility of migrants seeking to transit to the U. S. (Vogt 2018; Cantalapiedra et al. 2021). As a result, Mexico is now considered both a “transit” and “immigrant receiving country.” This means that some refugee-migrants from Latin America and elsewhere who planned to enter the U. S. are being forced to give up their mobility or are choosing to remain in Mexico. As international organizations and states try to manage and control the movement of refugee-migrants in the North American region, Mexico has also expanded its own system for assessing and settling refugees. But what impact has this expansion of Mexico’s asylum system, and the formation of stratified rights for refugee-migrants had on their “differential inclusion” into the labor market (Papadopoulous and Tsianos 2013; Kononen 2017).

In this presentation I aim to explore how different legal categories formed under the Mexican asylum system affect the experiences of labor market incorporation of refugee-migrants in different parts of Mexico. I will present data obtained through field research conducted primarily near Mexico’s southern border, and in the central and northeastern regions. I interviewed local researchers to get a general understanding of the situation. In addition, I visited relevant institutions and NGOs, and conducted semi-structured interviews, mainly with their staff.