Ecologies of Care: How Cross-Border Humanitarian Organizations Support Asylum Seekers in Arizona-Mexico Border-Towns
In early 2019 the Trump administration implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the Remain in Mexico Policy. As a result of this rule, asylum seekers are now being sent to wait for their US asylum proceedings in Mexico (Ahmed, 2018). 647,919 individuals were apprehended during fiscal year 2021 with 110,400 individuals detained in May alone (Nationwide Enforcement Encounters, 2021). Since 2014, Southern Arizona has seen an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers, mainly from Central America, prompting a large public humanitarian response involving both the public and private/non-profit sectors. This project documents and analyzes how local advocacy organizations have responded to this recent humanitarian situation as well as how they have been changed by it. With this I seek to understand the varied landscape of care surrounding asylum seekers between the state, non-governmental organizations, and the public. In more applied terms, the goal of this project is to create a publicly available website in both English and Spanish to be able to document the motivations and impacts of this broad humanitarian effort in southern Arizona.
References
Ahmed, A., & Semple, K. (2018, November 24). Mexico Mulls Allowing Migrants to Stay There Pending U.S. Asylum Bids. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/world/americas/mexico-migrant-crisis.html.
Nationwide Enforcement Encounters: Title 8 Enforcement Actions and Title 42 Expulsions. (9, June 2021). Retrieved from https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics.