From National to Human Security: Undocumented Migration in Transit through Mexico

The Mexican government, based on the feeling of insecurity that prevails in the country, has created a security discourse in which has based the decision making process and the creation of policies and programs on migration. While the speech is based on protecting migrants from insecurity and the risks they face during their transit through Mexico, its policies are based on national and border security, without taking into account the human security of migrants and the networks and migration systems that exist in the country and that clearly can not be removed so easily. The following text is an attempt to chronicle the genealogy of the discourse in the management of migration; a mapping of the process gradually established through police legal provisions and practices that currently criminalize transit migration of Central Americans in Mexico. The national security discourse implemented by the Mexican government is contested through the actions and networks created by civil society organizations on a local, national and international level. Shelters and Nongovernmental organizations work together not only to protect migrants during their transit through the country, but also to showcase the lack of adequate public policies from the government to protect them, with a particular criticism on the national security approach that the government policies are based on, as well as documenting the insecurities and difficulties that migrants encounter throughout their journey.