Abnormal bordering: control, punishment and deterrence in Mexico’s migrant detention centres

Abstract

Migrant detention in Mexico, as a cornerstone of the Mexican Transit Control Regime, is intrinsically related to US migration control. Drawing on Katja Franko Aas’s ‘border penality’ and ‘abnormal justice’ conceptualizations, this paper argues that Transit Control Regimes are an abnormal bordering and the outcome of two trends of the geographies of migration control: reverberation and distancing. To examine how this abnormal bordering is enforced, following the ‘bordering as a practice’ research agenda, this paper analyses the practices of control, punishment, and deterrence used in Mexico’s migrant detention centres drawing on state agents’ narratives. Particular emphasis is given to clerical control, material conditions and disciplinary rules. The analysis presented sheds light on the precarious conditions of the facilities, the discrepancy between regulations and practice, questionable practices of control and discipline and the reality of migrant detention as a de facto punishment for migrants.