Humanitarian borders and asylum in Mexico: using soft power to control mobility

Abstract

Drawing on the anthropological debates surrounding humanitarian borders, this article analyses the functioning of the humanitarian border in central Mexico. More specifically, it focuses on the state of Puebla as a case study that casts light on the ways in which the humanitarian border operates in states located far from geographic borders, which are frequently overlooked in discourse and action on migration and asylum in Mexico. Based on ethnographic research in Puebla between 2019 and 2022, we analyse how the state has been incorporated into the international humanitarian circuit by being made responsible for handling asylum seekers and refugees who have been relocated from the south of the country. Against this backdrop, a humanitarian border comprising two dimensions has emerged: a hard border governed by securitarian control measures and a soft border managed by humanitarian actors. In this article, we will analyse the soft humanitarian border.