Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

International Migration Studies

Advisor

Jamie Longazel

Subject Categories

Human Geography

Keywords

Neoliberal human rights, abolition, carceral geography, asylum policy, Migrant Protection Protocols

Abstract

The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPPs), also known as “Remain in Mexico”, and Mexico’s response program, the Northern Border Migrant Attention Plan, embody how human rights have developed under neoliberal capitalism. Historically and presently, US asylum policy serves as a type of extraterritorial mobility control which manipulates non-domestic space to detain and contain asylum seekers. Despite an international legal framework, widely held popular ideals of human rights as wellbeing for all are challenged by the breakdown of human rights in practice, as in the case of the MPPs and the response of the Mexican state. Contradictions in human rights can be attributed to neoliberal influence on human rights doctrine, which favors an unequal distribution of wealth and power, and is policed by neoliberal state institutions. And, neoliberal governments often appropriate the language of human rights to further state-centric agendas. The Northern Border Migrant Attention Plan is first and foremost a labor program run out of federally-managed migrant shelters called Migrant Integration Centers (CIMs). While the Mexican government describes the CIMs’ functions and facilities as respectful of migrants and their human rights, it uses market-based evidence to back up its claims. An examination of media, nonprofit and state communications demonstrates that the Mexican government continues to escalate migration enforcement on behalf of the US, and at the same time seeks to further its economy by exploiting migrant labor.

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