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Torturing environments and multiple injuries in Mexican migration detention

Author

Listed:
  • Julia Manek

    (Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main)

  • Andrea Galán-Santamarina

    (Sir[a] Centre)

  • Pau Pérez-Sales

    (Sir[a] Centre)

Abstract

Mexico’s role in the US-Central American migration regime is threefold: not only is it a country of origin, and a transit country, but also increasingly becoming a receiving country for migrants who flee from violence, insecurity and poverty. The Mexican state responds with detention enforcement. Clinical research usually puts emphasise on the negative impact of detention enforcement on the detainees‘ mental health. Yet, it often disregards the spatial configurations of detention centres and their socio-political context. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing how such factors create harmful environments that affect both the detainees‘ mental health and their social life in Mexico’s migration detention centres. The study’s mixed method approach builds on semi-structured interviews with a sample of N = 56 migrants of diverse nationalities and varying socioeconomic status of whom 22 were still detained while 34 had been released. The interviews include the Torturing Environment Scale (TES), a novel instrument for the analysis of detention environments, as well as clinical psychological measures of emotional distress. Additional n = 10 in-depth interviews with human rights advocates to explore the interconnections between the detention environments, their impact on mental health, and Mexican migration politics. Facultative counter-mappings of the detention centres complement the interviews. Without exception, all interviews of detainees underline that the manipulation of detention conditions creates torturing environments that cause harm to basic physiological and psychological needs. A comparison between detained vs. released interviewees revealed lasting feelings of fear and shame. The study emphasises that immigration detention immobilises migrants in a necropolitical limbo, which destroys hope as much as human integrity. It indicates that detention is part of deterrence politics, which perpetuates harm and inequality through detention and deportation. Highlighting structural human rights violations, the findings stress the need to review current migration policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Manek & Andrea Galán-Santamarina & Pau Pérez-Sales, 2022. "Torturing environments and multiple injuries in Mexican migration detention," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01252-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01252-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Amalia Campos-Delgado, 2018. "Counter-mapping migration: irregular migrants’ stories through cognitive mapping," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 488-504, July.
    2. Janet Cleveland & Rachel Kronick & Hanna Gros & Cécile Rousseau, 2018. "Symbolic violence and disempowerment as factors in the adverse impact of immigration detention on adult asylum seekers’ mental health," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(8), pages 1001-1008, November.
    3. Kenneth Carswell & Pennie Blackburn & Chris Barker, 2011. "The Relationship Between Trauma, Post-Migration Problems and the Psychological Well-Being of Refugees and Asylum Seekers," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 57(2), pages 107-119, March.
    4. MacLean, Sarah A. & Agyeman, Priscilla O. & Walther, Joshua & Singer, Elizabeth K. & Baranowski, Kim A. & Katz, Craig L., 2019. "Mental health of children held at a United States immigration detention center," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 303-308.
    5. Melati Nungsari & Sam Flanders & Hui-Yin Chuah, 2020. "Poverty and precarious employment: the case of Rohingya refugee construction workers in Peninsular Malaysia," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pau Pérez-Sales & Andrea Galán-Santamarina & María Victoria Zunzunegui & Sara López-Martin, 2022. "Refugee Camps as Torturing Environments—An Analysis of the Conditions in the Moria Reception Center (Greece) Based on the Torturing Environment Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-15, August.

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