Abstract
This article deals with the production of migration control regimes and the proliferation of borders in Latin America and the Caribbean, within the framework of the recent contemporary processes of regionalization and internationalization of migration policies and the externalization of borders. Specifically, it explores the reconfigurations that both migration and border control policies and practices have experienced over the past two decades in specific socio-historical contexts. Inspired by critical studies on migration and borders, and based on a multi-sited and processual perspective, the article focuses on some border conflicts that are relevant to understand mutations that condense broader or more comprehensive processes in the Latin American and Caribbean border control regimes. Firstly, the article addresses the relationship between border control and “irregular migration”, seeking to analyse the emergence of migratory “crises” in the region. Secondly, it unfolds some components of the South American border regime, identifying contested control policies and practices on migrant movements. Finally, it recognizes some characteristic aspects of the North American and Central American border regime, while it problematizes the conformation of Mexico as a “vertical border” and the emergence of new forms of migration in a context of generalized violence.
Keywords
Latin America and the Caribbean; border regime; migration crisis; migrant struggle