In the summer of 2024, I traveled to Mexico where I conducted nine weeks of ethnographic research with Central American migrants in Monterrey and Mexico City, two epicenters of migration from Central American. I returned to the University of Virginia (UVA) my senior year, with a deeper understanding of the migrant experience along the Mexico–US border. I also experienced profound gratitude for the relationships I formed with the immigrants I met.

Professor Levi Vonk of UVA, the project leader, posed the primary research question for our team of three: How do humanitarian visas—a legal document unique to Mexico, which grants migrants one year of residency—affect migrants’ integration into Mexican society, especially for healthcare access and health outcomes? This research changed over time, however, as I continued to interact with individual migrants during my field stay.

I first arrived in Monterrey to conduct ethnographic research with a family who had migrated from Honduras. More than anything, this week was full of connection and joy. From previous travel and volunteer work in Latin America, I spoke Spanish. Rather than conducting formal interviews, I was integrated into the family’s daily life. Playing sports alongside the kids and helping the grandmother cook provided opportunities for me to connect with the migrant experience. Although I was only in Monterrey a short time, I left for Mexico City with a greater understanding of the structural barriers to citizenship that prevent migrant families from receiving sustainable healthcare access. Without documentation, the experience of noncitizens in Mexico is threatened—altered from the familiarity of their home countries.

In Mexico City, I spent the subsequent eight weeks volunteering in a migrant shelter. While there, the scope of my research changed dramatically as the current migrant situation became increasingly clear. Although the initial research goal was to determine how humanitarian visas impact healthcare access, once I arrived in the shelter, I discovered that the Mexican government had halted the distribution of these visas because stricter border externalization had been enacted between the United States and Mexico. The goal of border externalization is to prevent migrants from reaching US borders, thus reducing the number of arrivals.

Through my experience in the shelter, I learned how ethnographic research enabled me to better grasp the ways US–Mexico policies impact the lives of migrants. Across northern Mexico, and especially in Mexico City, migrant shelters are constantly surpassing their capacity. I traveled daily to a migrant shelter for single men. Although there were 40 beds, over 100 men were living there for up to three months at a time.

The influx of asylum seekers into northern Mexico has grown as the result of a recently implemented mobile app called CBP-One. Since January 2023, this new U.S. Customs and Border Protection app has replaced other processes for asylum. It is a scheduling system more than a humanitarian process, with many barriers to access it. Once a migrant’s name is registered, the app requires anyone seeking asylum to request an appointment every day. I noted the average wait time varied between three and eight months. This appointment is the first step in a long journey towards asylum. If accepted through the app, migrants may enter the country (granted they have a contact who can house and accept them) with a temporary work status permit. The actual legal process for asylum will often begin years later.

Furthermore, in order to request an appointment for entry, asylum seekers must be located in northern Mexico. Although I arrived in Mexico without knowledge of this platform, my research quickly changed to observe the relationship between migration, asylum, and CBP-One. Specifically, I became interested in the technological barriers making it difficult for migrants to register with the app caused by the increased externalization of the US–Mexico border deeper into Latin America.

In the shelter, I spent the majority of my time assisting men, women, and families with CBP-One. There are significant technological and language barriers for asylum seekers that have an impact on the likelihood of scheduling an appointment on the app. The majority of the migrants I met had just arrived from Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador. I also registered men from Afghanistan, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tunisia. The app is offered in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, though announcements or changes to the app’s functioning are only offered in English. For the men who spoke only Chinese or Farsi, much of my work in the shelter was only possible through Google Translate.

Through daily interactions with the migrants, I came to know, I formed connections that were the basis of my ethnographic research. I found my work simultaneously rewarding and difficult. As an American citizen, grappling with the impact of our problematic immigration system for migrants was challenging. Although I am back at UVA, I hope to use this research in my future advocacy and storytelling work.

Thank you to the Aigrain Foundation for making my research possible.

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