Migrant autonomy and wilfulness amidst the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic at the Tijuana border

Abstract

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States and Mexico in March 2020, both the pandemic itself and the measures taken to contain its spread produced potentially devastating effects on the lives of migrants in Tijuana. Qualitative data from interviews with eight Honduran migrants sheltering in place in Tijuana reveal the fragility of the city’s network of migrant service providers in the context of a border closed to non-essential movement, and ensuing repercussions for the migrants that they serve. However, beyond questions of access to basic necessities such as food, shelter and health services; protection from criminal violence; or complications to legal processes and visa status, the data provided by these eight migrants offer insights regarding migrant autonomy: aside from the undeniable frustration evoked by the pandemic and the measures taken to control it, migrants also exhibit a persistence and inventiveness seen in their willingness to wait, their resolve to maintain their projects of migration, a shift in their attention from the future to the present, their general resourcefulness in problem solving, and a hidden agenda of humour that functions as a subtle form of resistance. Together our observations show that in spite of appearing to be trapped, with hopes thwarted, migrants continue to be social agents, and continue to represent a wilful social force in Tijuana.