Sienna Ruiz

In 2023, Mexico – typically considered a country of migrant origin – became one of the top receiving countries for refugee applications in the world. The state and non-governmental organizations attribute this development to widespread traumatic violence forcing people to flee to the country, and they respond by providing refugees with psychosocial and economic integration services. In actuality, the growth of the Mexican refugee system reflects U.S. border externalization schemes that export migrant detention, deportation, and acceptance. Structural conditions force migrants to become refugees in Mexico when they actually want to reach the U.S., but refugee applications impede mobility by delaying their journeys, depleting their resources, and inducing extreme despondence. Migrants describe these dynamics as a wound to their souls that requires active work to repair and profoundly shifts how they approach migratory plans as the U.S. becomes out of reach. By exploring how migrants move through Mexico from a refugee shelter to one of the most popular cities for refugee resettlement, and how NGOs and state actors establish this path, I will examine how contestations over the boundaries of the soul translate into how people navigate the increasingly entrenched borders of the modern world.