“We Speak the Same Language, but They Don't Understand Us.” Use and Abuse of Culturalism in Medical Care for Central American Migrants in Transit Through Mexico

This article deals with cultural stereotypes toward Central American migrants in the Mexican healthcare system, which lead to the naturalization of the supposed cultural characteristics of these new users. Based on 21 interviews of health and administrative staff in the state of Nuevo Leon (northeastern Mexico), it shows the first recourse to culturalist explanations to describe any phenomenon related to migrants' health. According to this perspective, the health of migrants, their relation to illness, and their patterns of seeking healthcare would be mainly determined by characteristic cultural traits, which justify their penurious attendance at health centers, and their low adherence to treatments. The culturalist explanation of migrants' health behaviors may influence the care they receive, as well as their adherence to treatment, which ultimately reinforces the health inequalities initially highlighted. This culturalist excess is partly explained by the incorrect understanding of the directives of health authorities in favor of the integration of an intercultural perspective in healthcare. Despite some ongoing training in this area, it does not seem sufficient to correct this situation effectively

Transnational Advocacy Networks of Migrants and Asylum Seekers’ Human Rights: The San Diego—Tijuana Border in the Trump Era

How do advocacy organizations from the San Diego—Tijuana area contest and resist Trump’s immigration policies? What resources and tactics do they use to externalize their demands at the local and international levels? Based on semi-structured interviews with eight advocacy organizations—with a local, binational, and international presence—that have mobilized to externalize their demands on different local and international arenas, this research aims to answer these questions by applying the transnational advocacy networks literature to the mentioned case study. Our main findings show that transnational relations between advocacy organizations represent a counterbalance to Trump’s immigration policies. Some organizations have adapted to react to a set of new policies implemented by the administration, and, at the same time, they have diffused information, values, and ideas as part of their resistance tactics. Through transnational advocacy networks, local organizations have accomplished international relevance, turning into key players of advocacy in the region. These networks demonstrate that, despite Trump’s restricting immigration policies, transnational channels between these actors remain open for collective action

Migration experiences and discrimination in access to healthcare for undocumented Central Americans in Mexico : the case of the state of Nuevo León

Durant leur exil vers les États-Unis, les populations centraméricaines en situation irrégulière sont particulièrement exposées à des risques de santé en même temps qu'elles souffrent d'un accès compliqué au système sanitaire mexicain. Pour leur part, les institutions de santé ont beaucoup de mal à atteindre ces populations par définition mobiles. Les traditionnelles interventions de santé publique ne tiennent que rarement compte de la complexité des déterminants sous-jacents de leur santé et n'ont que peu d'effets sur elles. En réalité, la santé des migrants est essentiellement déterminée par des facteurs situés en dehors du secteur de la santé institutionnelle. Leurs conditions de voyage, de travail, de logement et de vie renferment d'importants risques pour leur bien-être physique et psychique; qui est également conditionné par leur accès aux services sociaux et de santé, leur irrégularité administrative, les conséquences des politiques restrictives d'immigration et les sentiments anti-migrants répandus qu'ils affrontent quotidiennement. Aussi, face à leurs souffrances, le Mexique alterne des postures opposées en apparence, proclamant l'accès universel au système de santé comme droit fondamental inhérent à la dignité humaine, mais qui se heurte aux priorités de « sécurité nationale » des politiques migratoires. Les politiques de santé s'inscrivent alors dans un continuum avec celles de contention migratoire. Basé sur un travail de terrain effectué entre 2016 et 2019 dans des centres de santé et des hôpitaux de l'État du Nuevo León (Nord-Est du Mexique, frontalier avec le Texas), nous avons identifié et analysé les conditions d'accès aux soins des sans-papiers centraméricains en fonction de leurs trajectoires migratoires et de vie, ainsi que des logiques institutionnelles d'accès aux soins. Nous avons interrogé les aspects, presque jamais traités, liés à la stigmatisation et aux discriminations. Le système de santé mexicain produit une discrimination systémique dans son rapport à autrui, particulièrement envers les populations centraméricaines, que les fournisseurs de soin tendent à « essentialiser » dans une catégorie stéréotypée et ethnicisée du « migrant sans-papiers centraméricain ». Face à cette situation, ces derniers élaborent des stratégies de résistance au gré de leurs ressources et de leurs trajectoires personnelles. Apparaît alors une dissension entre le droit fondamental à la santé et la situation juridique irrégulière. Le biologique se confond avec le politique, provoquant une tension permanente entre protection et menace à la santé des migrants. La frontière entre médecine et droit, entre soins et répression, devenue floue, ne peut qu'approfondir la crainte et la méfiance des migrants envers les hôpitaux et renforcer leur mise à l'écart.During their exile towards the United States, the Central America population in an irregular situation are particularly exposed to health risks, at the same time as they suffer from complicated access to the Mexican health system. Nonetheless, health institutions have great difficulty in touching these hard-to-reach populations. Traditional public health interventions rarely consider the complexity of the underlying determinants of their health and have little effect on them. The health of migrants is primarily determined by factors outside the institutional health sector. Their travel, working, housing, and living conditions contain significant risks for their physical and mental well-being. Their health is also conditioned by their access to social and health services, their administrative irregularity, the consequences of restrictive immigration policies and the widespread anti-migrant sentiments they face daily. Given their suffering, Mexico alternates between the apparent opposed positions where they proclaim universal access to the health system as a fundamental right inherited as human dignity, and the "national security" priorities of migration policies. Therefore, health policies are part of a continuum with those of immigration containment. Based on fieldwork conducted between the years of 2016 and 2019 in health centers and hospitals around the state of Nuevo Leon (northeastern Mexico, border with Texas), we identified and analyzed the care access conditions for undocumented Central American migrants, according to their migration and life paths, as well as institutional logics of access to care. We questioned the aspects, almost never addressed, related to stigma and discrimination. The Mexican health system produces systemic discrimination in its relationship to otherness, particularly towards Central American population, which health care providers tend to "essentialize" based on a stereotypical and ethicized categorization of "undocumented Central American migrant". Due to these situations, migrants develop resistance strategies according to their resources and their personal trajectories. Then, a dissension arises between the fundamental right to health and the irregular legal situation. The merging of political and biological aspects causes a permanent tension between protection and threat within the health of migrants. The thin line between medicine and law, care and repression have become blurred. In effect, it only reinforces migrant's fear and mistrust towards hospitals causing an increase in their exclusion

What security and for whom? The social construction of exclusion of migrants from citizen security and health security in Mexico

International audienceAbstract This article explores the social construction of international migrants as a threat to public health and public safety in Mexico, specifically in the case of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, since relations within this new sense of “otherness” in this city cause issues for public health and citizen security as traditionally conceived. An in‐depth review of the secondary literature on citizen security and health security related to migration and of the Mexican legal framework was conducted, and public information requests were made to Mexican public agencies. If citizen and health security are complementary paradigms, migrants seem excluded from their application. Far from being considered holders of rights, they are primarily restricted in their exercise of rights because they are not “citizens.” These “newcomers” are perceived as “pathogenic agents” and “criminal illegal immigrants” rather than as deserving of these rights by the authorities, the media, and the majority population of Monterrey. These dynamics are likely to keep them not only on the fringes of “the city” but also in a very vulnerable position to fall victim to of all kinds of exploitation, resulting in a form of “management” of human mobility based on exclusion.Este artículo explora la construcción social de la migración internacional como una amenaza para la salud pública y la seguridad ciudadana en México, específicamente en el caso del Área Metropolitana de Monterrey, puesto que, en esta ciudad, las relaciones con este nuevo sentido de “otredad” complican las concepciones tradicionales de la salud pública y de la seguridad ciudadana. Se realizó una revisión profunda de la literatura secundaria sobre seguridad ciudadana y seguridad sanitaria relacionada con la migración, así como del marco jurídico mexicano, y se hicieron solicitudes de información pública a dependencias de gobierno. Si bien la seguridad ciudadana y la seguridad sanitaria son paradigmas complementarios, las personas migrantes parecen excluidas de su aplicación. Lejos de ser consideradas titulares de derechos, se les restringe su ejercicio por no ser “ciudadanos”. Las autoridades, los medios de comunicación y la población mayoritaria de Monterrey perciben a estas personas “recién llegadas” como “agentes patógenos” e “inmigrantes ilegales criminales” más que como merecedoras de estos derechos. Es probable que esta dinámica las mantenga no sólo al margen de “la ciudad”, sino también en una posición muy vulnerable para ser víctimas de todo tipo de explotación, lo que da lugar a una forma de “gestión” de la movilidad humana basada en la exclusión

Les défis interculturels dans les formations de français de la médecine.

International audienc

Les défis interculturels dans les formations de français de la médecine.

International audienc

“Action Through Omission”: Biopoliticization Of Migration in Times of Pandemic in Nuevo León, Mexico

International audienceThis article explores the intrusion of power into the lives of migrant populations in Mexico during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from biopolitical theories, a documentary analysis of the state of Nuevo León, and interviews with key actors from civil society, it reveals control mechanisms that pathologize migrants. Contrary to official discourses, the exercise of power is characterized by two dynamics of disposability: an almost exclusive focus on repressive migration policies and a policy of omission that denies migrants in irregular situations access to healthcare services. Whether intentionally implemented or as an unreflective practice by authorities based on supposed health risks, these biopolitical devices align with the needs of the current hegemonic economic system, against which individuals develop strategies of resistance in an attempt to emancipate themselves from the forms of oppression that afflict them

L’expérience du deuil chez les migrants centraméricains en transit au Mexique

International audienceMexico has become a crucial crossing point for migratory flows ofCentral American migrants who use it as a way to enter the United States. Integratingcontributions from social psychology and sociology, we focus on a sector of thispopulation that is in a situation of extreme vulnerability. We carried out ten in-depthinterviews with migrants who had to deal with grief as a result of the loss of a lovedone within the close family circle while in transit through Mexico. After analyzingtheir coping strategies for mourning and the importance of social support networks,we observe that there is an association between migrants’ social capital and theircapacity for resilience. Our study offers empirical evidence that can serve as a basisfor further research related to issues of death and migration.Le Mexique est un point de passage obligé pour les migrants centraméricains ensituation irrégulière qui tentent d’atteindre les États-Unis. En intégrant descontributions de la psychologie sociale et de la sociologie, notre étude exploratoire seconcentre sur un sous-groupe extrêmement vulnérable de cette population. Nousavons mené dix entretiens en profondeur avec des migrants qui ont vécu le deuil d’unêtre cher du premier cercle familial pendant leur transit au Mexique. Après avoiranalysé leurs stratégies d’adaptation au deuil et l’importance des réseaux de soutiensocial, nous avons observé une association entre le capital social des migrants et leurcapacité de résilience. Ce travail fournit des informations qui peuvent servir de basepour de plus amples recherches liées au thème de la mort en contexte de mobilité