Hardships of Mexican Immigrant Migrant Working Families in the United States Peer Reviewed Source

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015

• René Leyva-Flores,
• Cesar Infante,
• Juan Pablo Gutierrez,
• Frida Quintino-Perez,
• MariaJose Gómez-Saldivar,
• Cristian Torres-Robles

10

• Published: August 21, 2019
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220775

Figures

Abstract

Objectives

The objectives of the study are to i) estimate the brunt of physical, sexual, and psychological violence among migrants in transit through Mexico to the US; and ii) examine the associations between experiencing violence and sociodemographic characteristics, migratory background, and health status in this vulnerable population.

Method

A cross-sectional report combining qualitative and quantitative methods was carried out from 2009 to 2015 with a sample of 12,023 migrants in transit through United mexican states to the US. Information on gender (male, female, and transsexual, transgender and transvestite -TTTs-); nationality; health status; migratory background; and experiences with violence was obtained. Fifty-eight migrants participated in in-depth interviews to explore whatever experiences of violence during their journeying. A descriptive analysis was performed and a probit regression model was practical to analyze the factors associated with violence. Qualitative information was analyzed to empathise experiences, meanings and responses to violence.

Results

The overall prevalence of suffering from any class of violence was 29.iv%. Nearly 24% reported concrete violence, xix.five% experienced psychological violence, and approximately 2% reported sexual violence. TTTs experienced a significantly greater burden of violence compared to men and women. Violence occurred more often amid migrants from Key American (30.6%) and other countries (40.0%) than it did amid Mexican migrants (20.5%). Experiences involving sexual, physical and psychological violence as well as theft and even kidnapping were described past interviewees. Migrants mistrust the police, migration authorities, and armed forces, and therefore commonly refrain from revealing their experiences.

Conclusion

Migrants are subjected to a loftier level of violence while in transit to the US. Those traveling under irregular migratory weather are targets of fifty-fifty greater violence, a status exacerbated by gender inequality. Migrants transiting through Mexico from Central American and other countries undergo violence more frequently than do Mexican migrants. Protective measures are urgently needed to ensure the human being rights of these populations.

Citation: Leyva-Flores R, Infante C, Gutierrez JP, Quintino-Perez F, Gómez-Saldivar G, Torres-Robles C (2019) Migrants in transit through Mexico to the United states of america: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015. PLoS I xiv(viii): e0220775. https://doi.org/10.1371/periodical.pone.0220775

Editor: Mary C. Smith Fawzi, Harvard Medical Schoolhouse, Us

Received: May 25, 2018; Accepted: July 23, 2019; Published: August 21, 2019

Copyright: © 2019 Leyva-Flores et al. This is an open admission article distributed nether the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted utilise, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Information Availability: Data are from the Multicenter Projection: International Migration and Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Migrants from Mexico and Central America, 2009-2015, whose authors may be contacted at: rene.leyva@insp.mx; cesar.infante@insp.mx. Data base of operations are available at: Data base: https://osf.io/2sq8b; Exercise files: https://osf.io/4d5vw; Qualitative: https://osf.io/uwz2q; Nil file: https://osf.io/fs6x9. The data files uploaded to Open Science Framework represent the underlying data necessary to replicate the findings of this study in their entirety. For boosted data regarding the projection, interested researchers may likewise contact the President of Ideals Committee at INSP (PhD. Angelica Angeles) at: aangelica@insp.mx.

Funding: This study was funded by the Ford Foundation for Mexico and Central America, grant 1100-0482 to RL-F. The funders had no function in written report design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or grooming of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors take alleged that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Throughout the world, traditional migration routes take turned into high-adventure corridors with alarming consequences for the prophylactic, integrity and wellness of migrants [1,2,three,4,5,6,vii].

In an try to understand the vulnerability of migrants, diverse studies have explored related socioeconomic factors, political issues and migration policies in both countries of origin and destination [8, 9, 10, eleven,12].

Globally, at that place were an estimated 258 million international immigrants in 2017 of which 57% accept established themselves in adult regions. Among this group, 61% originated from developing countries [13]. The largest number of immigrants resided in the United States (US), which hosted 49.8 one thousand thousand (19% of the world's total) in 2017. The migration corridor from Latin America and the Caribbean area to Northern America was the third largest worldwide in 2017, with over 26 million international migrants [13]. For Mexico and Key American countries, the US is the primary country of destination [13, xiv]. The World Bank (2017) estimates the number of migrants from Mexico and Central American countries in the US as follows: Belize (48,918), Costa rica (85,133), El Salvador (one,387,022), Guatemala (935,707), Honduras (651,059), United mexican states (11,573,680), Nicaragua (243,024) and Panama (94,958) [13]. In regards to undocumented migrants from Primal America entering Mexico, the Mexican Ministry of the Interior estimated 390,000 individuals in 2014 [fifteen].

Migrants are frequently subjected to violence in their habitation countries and continue to be victims of violence throughout their transit in Mexico, while crossing the U.s. border and at their destination, where they often remain with an irregular migratory status [sixteen,17]. Betwixt 1998 and 2015 a total of 6,571 migrants were institute dead in the US and in 2015 the U.s.a.-Mexico border ranked third globally with the highest number of migrants expressionless and missing [18]. Furthermore, Mexico is a major transit country for Primal American migrants travelling to the US; many go missing on the journey, and many unidentified human remains are found [19]. Besides, according to the National Human Rights Commission in United mexican states, migrants in transit are casualty to varied forms of violence; despite this danger, 88% of the victims decide to continue their travel [7]. Those that succeed in entering the US alive in constant fear of being deported. Information technology is estimated that, overall, during the Obama administration nearly 3 meg immigrants were deported between 2009 and 2017 [17,xx]. According to Us Clearing and Customs Enforcement, during the Trump administration, removals increased past 17% in 2017, and in the first semester of 2018 a total of 109,296 repatriation events of Mexicans were registered [21].

In this social context, not-governmental human rights organizations accept come forward to report and document cases of extreme violence [22]. Nonetheless, few studies have addressed both the magnitude and forms of violence perpetrated or the personal experiences of the victims as they grapple with violence in Mexico.

The twofold purpose of this study was to: estimate the overall burden of violence, including physical, sexual, and psychological violence, experienced by migrants in transit through Mexico to the US from 2009 to 2015; and to examine factors placing people at run a risk of violence in this vulnerable population.

Methods

This paper is part of a broader research project initiated in 2002 in collaboration with migrant shelters in United mexican states (Casas del migrante). These faith-based non-governmental organizations not only provide humanitarian services; they also promote and defend the man rights of migrants. A cross-sectional report that combined quantitative and qualitative methods was carried out between February 2009 and December 2015 in five Casas del migrante located at strategic points along the migrant transit road. The shelters were located in the cities of Tapachula in the state of Chiapas; Ixtepec in Oaxaca; San Luis Potosí (SLP); Saltillo in Coahuila; and Tijuana in Baja California Norte. All of these sites are located forth the railway of a cargo train, which to engagement, provides one of the most important means of transportation for irregular migrants in Mexico [7].

During this period, a strategy to promote human rights, facilitate access to health care, prevent HIV/AIDS, and alleviate sexual and reproductive health problems, was implemented in the Casas del migrante. At these shelters, group activities were carried out with migrants in lodge to provide them with basic data on the subjects previously mentioned. After the activities, migrants were invited to participate voluntarily, in a not-random and confidential manner, to answer a questionnaire that gathered information on their sociodemographic characteristics, gender, migratory background, country of origin, and experience of unlike risks and types of violence during their transit through United mexican states. Staff from the shelters that were trained by the enquiry squad administered the questionnaire. The training lasted three days whereby researchers and staff from the shelters reviewed the objectives of the study, the importance of the different variables included in the questionnaire and ethical issues related to information collection. Subsequently, researchers supervised the drove of the data and provided feedback to the staff. Information was likewise gathered regarding sexual beliefs during the trip, specifically focusing on casual sex activity, condom use at terminal sexual relationship, and relations nether the influence of booze or drugs. Finally, those who indicated having experienced violence were asked whether or non they had reported the consequence to the authorities or to human rights civil society organizations. A total of 12,023 migrants participated voluntarily and their informed consent was obtained: 3,941 at Tapachula, 1,861 at Ixtepec, 2,503 at SLP, 2,334 at Saltillo, and 1,384 at Tijuana. Casas del migrante did not gather data on non-participants, but reported that there were few of those invited that declined participation.

This written report combined qualitative and quantitative methods using a complementary approach. In such a pattern, qualitative and quantitative approaches are used to examine overlapping just too dissimilar facets of a certain phenomenon seeking for an enriched, elaborated understanding. This immune us to draw the sociodemographic characteristics of migrants, provide an judge of the frequency of self-reported violence, as well as further explore and understand the trigger-happy experiences migrants have faced while in their transit through United mexican states [23]. First, quantitative data were collected through the questionnaire post-obit the procedures described above. This strategy allowed us to identify migrants that experienced violence who were then invited for an in-depth interview. For both quantitative and qualitative analysis, violence was the main consideration for analysis, and information technology was defined equally whatsoever action perpetrated by a person or group causing direct harm to another person and generally occurring in circumstances of diff power relations [24,25,26]. The dimensions of violence included in this analysis were: a) Physical violence (beatings, thefts, extortions and kidnappings); b) Psychological violence (humiliation, threats, rejection, insults); and c) Sexual violence (rape or sex in exchange for appurtenances, money, protection, transportation and/or food, amongst others) [24,25,26]. In order to maximize available quantitative information, we used data available for each variable, i.e. the number of respondents was dissimilar for some variables; this was in order to avert discarding observations due to periodic adjustments to the questionnaire used in this survey from 2009 to 2015. Missing values were excluded from the analysis.

We recognize that our categories generalized the experiences of migrants past highlighting a detail characteristic of violence according to the perception of the victim. Information technology is a fact, however, that fierce events often include diverse forms of violence simultaneously [vii,24,25,27,28]. For the quantitative information, descriptive statistics were reported in club to compare the characteristics of the populations affected and not affected by violence, while pinpointing gender-based violence experiences. Point estimates for the differences past feel of violence and past gender were calculated. Finally, a probit regression model was used to analyze the variables associated with the violent experiences of migrants (issue variable), and to place the marginal effects of these variables. For these models, the dependent variable is any feel of violence as reported past migrants and is coded as "yes" or "no." Independent variables are gender, schooling, land of origin, migration experience, having children, experience of discrimination and twelvemonth of the survey. In the probit model, the coefficients aim to guess the probability of a given observation to fall in a particular category, which in this case is the effect of experiencing violence during transit.

Design consequence in data analysis was considered including each Casa del migrante as a primary sampling unit, and each year every bit a stratum [29]. This immune aligning of estimates both for similarities among the populations served by each Casa del migrante and for changes in the variables of interest over time. This design effect is included both in descriptive and probit analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata, version 15.0.

Qualitative component

In-depth interviews were held with migrants who reported in the questionnaire some grade of violence during their transit through Mexico. Informants were included according to the following criteria: having experienced violence (sexual, psychological or physical), gender, and country of origin. Following these criteria 30 men and 28 women were interviewed, with a mean historic period of 30.7 years, from Guatemala, El salvador, and Honduras. The interviews were conducted by 2 researchers and were held in private spaces within the shelters in order to guarantee confidentiality and privacy for the informants. Interviews were sound recorded and lasted between 45 and sixty minutes each.

The objective of the qualitative component was to understand the pregnant of the violence experienced by migrants. The codes were based on the existing literature that explores violence and previous research undertaken by the research team [7,24,25,27,28]. An interpretivist arroyo to information assay was adopted in which accent was placed on the private's feel of migration, the dissimilar forms of violence and its consequences [xxx]. Initial analysis took place during information drove past listening to recordings, transcribing, and making field notes. As a issue of this process, the different dimensions of violence (psychological, physical and sexual) nowadays in the migrants' discourse could be identified. To enhance reliability, members of the enquiry squad continuously discussed the coding scheme, the development of themes and categories, and the estimation of the data [thirty]. Atlas.ti computer software was used to organize and clarify the qualitative data.

Participants were advised of the purpose of the interviews and asked to provide their informed consent to being sound-recorded. The confidentiality of respondents was guaranteed by assigning a code to each interview. Procedures for contacting migrants, conducting interviews and surveys, processing information and publishing related data were canonical and monitored by the Ethics Committee of the National Institute of Public Wellness in Mexico (Registration Code 917).

Results

The sociodemographic characteristics, migratory background and health status of the migrants who did/did not suffer violence while in transit through Mexico and provided information for the quantitative analysis are presented in Table one.

Equally reported, iii,539 of the total 12,023 migrants experienced violence: that is, 29.4%. Prevalence of violence was 30.9% for males, 23.5% for females and 55.2% for TTTs. Reporting of violence past location of Casa de migrante ranged from 18.3% in Tapachula to 38.iii% in Saltillo.

The majority of migrants came from Central America (81.nine%) and had an boilerplate of seven years of schooling. Upwards to 42.viii% reported having an intimate partner and ii thirds (66.viii%) had children. In regards to their migratory experience, the number of previous attempts to enter the US was two.4 on average, and 43.2% had reached the Usa. In relation to health, 39.2% reported a health problem or an accident in the 2 weeks prior to the interview, xvi.7% mentioned having sexual relations during their current transit, and violence was reported by 29.iv% of migrants.

Statistically meaning differences were observed by gender (p-value for the departure in the proportion of experience violence betwixt males and females is 0.053, males and TTTs 0.003, and between females and TTTs 0.001 –data non shown in the table), education, health condition (marginally significant with p-value of 0.053) and frequency of sexual relations during the trip betwixt migrants who reported having suffered and those who did not study some kind of violence. Additionally, of the full number of migrants who reported having had sexual relations during the trip, violence occurred most frequently among those who did so under the influence of booze or drugs (Table 1).

Overall, 19.5% of all migrants reported psychological violence, 23.vii% physical violence, and one.6% sexual violence. Of those that reported suffering violence, psychological violence was reported more often past women and TTTs (52.vii% and 64.8%, respectively) in comparison with men. Humiliation was the nigh mutual form of psychological violence affecting women and TTTs (52.vii% and 64.eight%, respectively) and threat was the almost common course of psychological violence affecting males (55.ix%).

Rejection for being female was reported past 9.xix% of women. Only 1.3% of all migrants felt rejected for being indigenous. Sexual preference was reported as motive of rejection by 1.0% of all migrants, although for TTTs this was reported past 47.7%. Being undocumented was reported equally motive of rejection by 25.nine% of all migrants, and was higher for females and TTTs every bit compared to males (46.7%, 32.8% and xx.0%, respectively, with p-values of 0.008 for the difference betwixt females and males and no significance for other differences). Rejection and bigotry by Mexicans confronting migrants in transit stem from mutual stereotypes regarding the undocumented, including stigmatizing labels such as "wetbacks" and "tattooed," which dismiss the migrants as delinquents or tearing gang members.

"The local people care for united states of america the same. It doesn't matter if y'all are from Honduras or Nicaragua considering we are wetbacks, we don't accept documents to migrate. People have discriminated [against] me because I have tattoos. I want to have a amend life and that'south the reason I am here away from my family in El Salvador. I am asking for refugee [status] in Mexico but it is hard to have a relationship with other persons because of my tattoos. At that place was a fourth dimension when I did bad things merely I am a human being and I am uncomfortable of being discriminated confronting just considering I am from abroad." (Male migrant from Republic of el salvador, 33 years of age)

Given the situations of violence in their home communities, some migrants, including the ones currently interviewed, seek refugee status or asylum in Mexico. Nonetheless, as is shown in the previous testimony, they tend to experience and perceive great difficulties in gaining this migratory status. Regarding those that experienced physical violence, extortion and theft of belongings ranked every bit the most common (68.7%), followed by beating (24.1%) and kidnapping (9.6%). No pregnant differences were observed according to gender (Table 2).

Theft of personal holding is one of the forms of violence making the transit through Mexico fifty-fifty more than precarious.

"Some local law guys came, searched us and took ane,500 pesos (U.s.a. 87.1) from us. They said: 'this is fine. If not, we would have handed you over to Immigration'." (Migrant, male, 20 years of age, from Guatemala)

In add-on to theft of money and belongings likewise every bit physical assault, aggressors commonly threaten to turn migrants in to authorities for deportation, as described in the following testimonies.

"He hit u.s. with a society and they broke my rib. They wanted my money. If not, they were gonna throw her [friend] off [the train] and phone call clearing authorities. Information technology wasn't much; information technology was 300 pesos (US 17.5). I didn't cower though. I pounced on one of them and he bit my finger and beat me with a stick. I gave him the coin, and that's how I got to Monterrey, all beat out upward." (Migrants, female, 26 and 27 years of age, from Republic of el salvador)

The theft, assaults, and threats finally corporeality to a form of "payment" past the migrants to the aggressors then that they may go along their journey or access the cargo train—the most utilized mode of transport across Mexico to reach the Us.

1 of the most serious manifestations of violence during transit is kidnapping of migrants past delinquent groups in Mexico, which in the well-nigh extreme cases can atomic number 82 to the death of the victim when ransom is not paid. These events can occur individually or towards groups, and accounts of migrant kidnappings are frequently reported to other migrants during their transit, as shown in the following testimony:

"Some men got on [the bus]. One of them didn't, and the commuter stood with him, on the footing, laughing. They got all of u.s.a. off and took us to a hotel. There, they searched u.s.. And so a cab came for us and took us to a house. We got to the business firm and there they had some other thirty people kidnapped: migrants, Mexicans, pocket-sized kids." (Migrant, TTT, 23 years of historic period, from Republic of honduras)

In the aforementioned testimony, the complication of the criminal network is noted, which can include drivers of public transport, owners of hotels, and more than. Neither nationality nor age appears to be a factor in kidnapping of migrants in Mexico.

Of the total number of migrants having suffered some form of violence, half dozen.5% reported sexual violence: six out of ten were raped, and iv out of ten performed sexual favors in commutation for goods (e.g., food, transportation, or clothing, and/or money). Sexual violence was observed more frequently among TTTs and women compared with men. 21.6% and fourteen.one% of females and TTTs reported rape, respectively, compared to only 1.5% of males (p-values of 0.000 and 0.003). Transactional sex was more common among TTTs and women,–simply particularly in TTTs- (29.seven% and 4.0%) compared to ii.0% for males (Tabular array ii) (p-values of 0.006 and 0.025). The reported frequency of sexual violence shows a marked difference past gender. Experiences of sexual violence emerge as part of the unequal dynamic between migrants and the local population during their journey, and tend to occur in certain transit routes where there is significant presence of delinquent groups: in the train, in other modes of transportation, and other spaces.

"Only once, a person raped me right afterwards I got on the railroad train. (…) It was one of those workers that are there; on the railway (…) He grabbed me by the hair, got me off the train and put me in his car." (Migrant, female, 35 years of age, from El Salvador)

"They said, 'the deadline [for paying ransom] is over and nosotros're gonna screw you.' They took off my pants and stripped me. He tried and I resisted. They couldn't penetrate me completely and they fabricated me bleed." (Migrant, male, 51 years of age, from El Salvador)

The weather condition of violence as described during transit have normalized sexual violence from a perspective of gender differentiation. In the cases of women, some perceive unwanted sexual relations–that were associated with violence, or in diff and disadvantaged situations–every bit i of the tools necessary to facilitate their passage and protect themselves from greater impairment.

"The reward of existence a woman is that men volition help you lot merely to have sex with you. Simply remember of it as paying for protection with [your] torso." (Migrant, female, 28 years of age, from Guatemala)

In the same context of inequality and violence, the threshold to take sexual relations is lowered every bit part of the substitution necessary to ensure survival within the migration process.

"If we accept to become things with sex then we accept to practise it. Maybe y'all don't want to but they accept reward of information technology. But if I have to eat, wear a jacket or sleep somewhere, and then I get it because in that location is no choice. You do everything on this trip. You accept to drink water in puddles from the watering holes where cows have been. It'southward what you do to survive." (22 yr quondam Gay man from Guatemala)

Food, habiliment, h2o, and shelter for the night or to rest, are all human necessities that aren't hands found in the insecure and precarious situations in which migrants find themselves. The presence of each of these elements differentiates the individual capacities of migrants to manage the aggression and violence they feel during transit. Even so, it is gender and nationality which weigh near heavily in determining the likelihood that a migrant will suffer violence while crossing Mexico, every bit seen in the following multivariable model.

Table three presents the results of the regression model designed to identify the factors related to suffering violence in any form. The multivariate analysis confirmed the relevance of gender in the likelihood of suffering violence: compared to males, TTTs proved 21.7 percent more likely and women iv.5 percent less likely than men to experience violence (model i); however, afterwards including demographic and migratory background variables (model three), the TTTs' differential dropped to 14 percentage points and the correlation was weak (p<0.1) while the females´ differential increased to seven.4 points (p<0.001).

Regarding country of origin, migrants from Cardinal America and other countries were more than likely to suffer violence than Mexican migrants (xxx.half dozen% and 40.0% vs twenty.5%). Finally, years of schooling, having children (but marginally significant in model 2) and having entered the US previously did not correlate with the likelihood of experiencing violence.

It is as well important to highlight that migrants have minimal access to legal, health and other public services and petty possibility of exercising their rights. Of the full number of migrants who suffered any blazon of violence during transit, merely 13.ix% reported the event to authorities or social organizations. Migrants experience various forms of violence throughout their journey to the US, carried out by dissimilar perpetrators that vary from the local population, the army, police force and organized criminal offense. The violence is and then frequent and generalized that migrants have accepted information technology as function of the toll they have to pay for migrating. The post-obit statement conveys the perspective of the directors of the Casas del migrante regarding the violence suffered past migrants as they transit through Mexico: "In Central America and Mexico, violence is generalized and unpredictable. In the past, people knew where violent events were likely to happen… Now it is impossible to know where violence volition occur… They carry their caskets on their backs from the moment they leave home, considering whatever day, any place, they are apt to run into death".

Discussion

Globally, the dynamics of population mobility are growing complex, and man rights violations are frequent and devastating. Gamble exposure under migratory conditions is escalating, and the effects of these factors on health are mirrored in increasingly astute problems, or even death [7,xviii]. Further aggravating the state of affairs is the framework of restrictive measures and policies surrounding migration [xix,20,21,31,32].

Violence against migrants starts in their ain countries of origin and persists throughout their transit in Mexico and into their destinations [7,16,17,27]. Under these precarious weather, violence is neither unknown nor unexpected to migrants. However, leaving everything behind to flee from violence in their home communities does non necessarily lead migrants to a secure place. Virtually are aware of the distinctively violent social conditions they must contend with in Mexico [vi,33,34]. And once in their destination of the US, the majority of those who succeed in crossing the border are constantly haunted by the fear of being deported [20,21,35].

The results of our study suggest that migrants from Primal American and other countries are more likely to experience violence while in transit to the The states than are Mexican migrants. This may be attributable to their irregular migratory weather condition, minimal social support, and certainly the violent weather condition encountered in United mexican states [vii,19,24,25,27,28,34]. The majority of these migrants seek to evade, rather than confront, the myriad risks inherent in their journeying, namely the presence of migration authorities, organized crime and common criminals. Migrants from Cardinal American and other countries prefer to take "safer" alternating routes: ones less controlled by authorities but, by the aforementioned token, are teeming with criminal organizations [19,34].

In order to understand the dimensions of the violence narrated by the migrants in transit through Mexico, we used the experiences of the local Mexican population equally reference, and found that they were not significantly unlike. Over all migrants interviewed in this report, 29.4% reported having experienced some form of violence, versus. 28.2% of the local Mexican population [35]. In that location exists a widespread distrust of authorities, which, in the case of transitory migrants, prevailed among travelers from Cardinal America and other countries who feared deportation [36,37]. Of the total number of migrants who have suffered some grade of violence, but one out of ten reported the consequence to an authority or a human rights organization. Similarly, only 10.7% of Mexicans reported their violent experiences to the authorities [35].

Regarding the distribution of violence past gender, nosotros identified that, overall, men suffered more than violence than women, but less than TTTs. In contrast, within the Mexican migrant population, we institute no statistically pregnant variation in the distribution of violence betwixt male and female victims [35]. Withal, in our written report, the distribution of violence co-ordinate to gender shows that TTTs experience the highest incidence of all forms of violence. The number of TTTs included in the report, only 67, is a limitation in cartoon conclusions for this group; nevertheless, due to their apparently increased vulnerability, it is however important to discuss the results for this population.

Ane of the most relevant explanations for the differential distribution of violence by gender during the migratory process refers to the increasing relations of inequality and pervasive gender roles present within particular migrant groups. This miracle may exist related to the numerical composition of the migrant flow; men outnumber both women and TTTs, which enables "machista" social interactions between migrants, assigning women and TTTs the traditional roles of dependence and subordinance. The perception of transit through United mexican states may also contribute to the phenomenon, a state traditionally associated with gender-based inequality and violence [38,39,40,41]. TTTs represent the small minority of the migrant population (less than 1% of the full sample), and are unlikely to obtain social support since they represent stereotypes of individuals whose identities do not conform to the normative male gender standards [42,43]. In this example, hate crimes are exacerbated inside migratory contexts, where TTTs represent a minority amidst minorities and usually travel with the exacerbated risks of irregular migratory conditions [44]. In the example of women, traditional gender roles are intensified throughout transit. As shown in this and other similar studies, from the perspective of the male migrant, female migrants require "protection" and are therefore given domestic tasks such as nutrient grooming and laundry in exchange for "protection and security" throughout the journey [38]. Hampered past domestic responsibilities, women are also a focus of harassment and sexual violence. In addition, they are frequently pressured into transactional sex equally a means of achieving transit not only for themselves but too for the other members of their migrant groups [45].

Violence against migrants occurs in social contexts of loftier homicide rates, both in the countries of origin and destination. The countries that form the "Northern Triangle" have the highest homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean: Republic of el salvador (60 for every 100,000 inhabitants), Honduras (42.8), and Guatemala (26.1). Mexico, the land of transit for the migrants in question, had a rate of 22.5 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2017. San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was considered the most violent city in the earth in 2013, with a charge per unit of ninety.four homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants [46]. This violent context, present in most countries of origin, is i of the master motives reported by migrants in their search for a improve quality of life. Nevertheless, as the results of this report demonstrate, reports of violence increase over two-fold (ii.1) in communities most the US-Mexico border (Saltillo, Coahuila: 38.3%), as compared to the communities in the south where transit begins (Tapachula, Chiapas: 18.two%). This indicates that the more extended the journey, the greater the risk of exposure to violence during the migration procedure.

Implications for public policy regarding migration and human rights

The continuously violent context in countries of origin and countries of transit has been reinforced by anti-immigration policies in the US: intensified in the Obama assistants and worsened in the current Trump assistants with a steeper uptick of persecution and displacement. However, despite these conditions, the majority of migrants who suffer violence in transit decide to keep their journey towards the Usa.

A periodic update of the migratory context that included our report brings the states to lay out the current scene in 2018 and 2019, where new forms of transit through Mexico have been defined: notably, "migrant caravans" [34,47]. Even and so, the current government of Mexico (2018–2024) has implemented protective measures for the human rights of transitory migrants, by means of providing a full of 13,270 visitor visas on humanitarian grounds to members of the migrant caravans up to Feb 11^th 2019 [46]. These methods appear to constitute a new social, political, and migratory scene to face the significant challenges related to the prevalent violence in these countries. Migrants are condign visible, and at the aforementioned time, being perceived by the current U.s.a. regime as a threat to national security and has resulted in an emergency response, including militarization at the border, and construction of a wall between the US and United mexican states.

Study limitations

From the start, information technology is important to note that incidences of violence are largely underreported mainly because victims have normalized and trivialized violence in Central America and Mexico. This may exist a reflection of the fact that the interviewees did not consider the majority of their migratory experiences related to violence (i.due east., psychological hostility, physical aggressions, and theft) "serious" enough to report. With respect to the way in which violence was categorized, it is of import to take into account the difficulty of differentiating betwixt different types of violence, as a result of the complexity of aggressions and the form in which they were reported (self-study).

This written report presents limitations related to its cantankerous-sectional design, which limits power to examine temporal relationships. The study was carried out only with migrants currently occupying the Casa de migrante, in lodge to command the cistron of local insecurity and ensure a higher level of participant rubber. The process of self-selection of the population which uses the shelters introduces bias in the results obtained, and may impact the generalizability of the findings. Notwithstanding, other studies nowadays a like prevalence of violence among migrants in full general (both users and not-users of shelters) and their sociodemographic characteristics do non differ from the sample considered for this study [27]. Despite its limitations, nosotros believe this study contributes of import information and analyses that assist understanding of the role violence plays in the experience of undocumented migrants living in situations of high social vulnerability.

Conclusions

The results of this paper show that violence is one of the main risks for migrants during their transit through Mexico due to the highly vulnerable conditions they face up. In guild to empathise how violence is exercised, nosotros must fully comprehend its complex dimensions and the social structures that perpetuate it. In this violence-imbued context, migrants in transit are vulnerable to loftier social risks requiring urgent intervention for the promotion and protection of their rights. The Mexican regime has received and committed to comply with a number of recommendations by national and international organizations. Still, little has been done to monitor their implementation or outcomes [19,22,47,48,49].

The efforts of the Casas del migrante, ceremonious organizations and advocates and defenders of the human rights of migrants are framed in the previously described context of structural violence. Considering—or in spite—of this, nonetheless, they have come to embody a substantial function of the social response to the consequences of violence confronting migrants in transit through Mexico. The Casas del migrante represent one of the few places where this population can discover social support and alleviate some of the negative consequences associated with the violence experienced while migrating. However, shelters do non take the chapters to transform the conditions that decide the magnitude and consequences of violence; this is an issue that must be addressed by the Mexican government and its institutions. To practise so, a serial of mechanisms should be implemented for effective enforcement of the universal human correct to security and social protection. It is necessary to define strategies, which promote and protect the human being rights of migrants and secure that they can fully access handling and care when needed during the entire migration process. The discussion should include and distinguish between the concepts of risks and vulnerability and consider differences based on gender, nationality, ethnicity, and social class among the most relevant for this population. Such response must also address social issues such as stigma, discrimination, and human rights and should exist based on the contextual realities. This urgently warrants further investigation aimed at providing testify for the implementation of the human rights policies necessary to guarantee migrants the effective practice of their rights.

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