A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Irregular Transmigrants’ Journeys and Mental Mapping Methodology

Abstract

AbstractThe development of border clusters and transit control regimes aiming to detain irregular migrants before they reach their destination countries is constructed upon a multidimensional geopolitical narrative driven by border security agreements. The Mexican Transit Control Regime illustrates that 16 years of trying to control migration in transit to the United States has not reduced it but has only succeeded in pushing migrants into dangerous routes and risky practices. Using mental maps as a technique to approach transmigrants’ voices, this article aims to contribute to the understanding of the ways irregular migrants in transit live and represent their journey.