Robbery victimization of Mexican migrants while crossing the border
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | Eduardo Torre Cantalapiedra,Carlos Manuel Hernández Campos |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13141 |
Int Migr. 2023;61:33–46. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig 33
1El Colegio Frontera Norte, Tijuana, Mexico
2Independent researcher
Correspondence
Eduardo Torre Cantalapiedra, Población,
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Carretera
escénica Tijuana-Ensenada km. 18.5, San
Antonio del Mar, C.P. 22560, Tijuana, B. C.,
Mexico.
Email: etorre@colef.mx
Abstract
We analyse the factors associated with Mexican migrants
being victims of robbery or assault while crossing the US–
Mexico border, based on an analytical model of the victimi-
zation of migration in transit. Drawing on Emif Norte survey,
we analyse the prevalence of victimization of robbery or
assault to migrants according to migrant's sociodemo-
graphic characteristics as well as the journey characteristics,
and we use a logistic regression model to assess the way in
which such characteristics are associated with being victim
of that crime. Findings suggest that migrants who crossed
through Tamaulipas and those who hired coyotes in transit or
at the border have higher odds of being robbed or assaulted,
in contrast, the individual sociodemographic characteristics
and crossing with family/friends are not associated with
being robbed or assaulted.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Robbery victimization of Mexican migrants while
crossing the border
Eduardo Torre Cantalapiedra1 | Carlos Manuel Hernández Campos2
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13141
Received: 5 August 2022 Revised: 16 February 2023 Accepted: 19 March 2023
INTRODUCTION
Since the 1990s, especially after the attacks of 11 September 2001, the security concern of the immigration policies
of successive Republican and Democratic administrations has led to an extensive militarization in the US–Mexico
border, aiming at stopping and discouraging irregular migration flows which have been considered a risk to national
security (Capps et al., 2019; Hollifield & Wong, 2015). While the effect of these border policies to reduce irregular—or
rather irregularized—migration flows is still the subject of discussion, thousands of migrants from Mexico and other
nationalities still cross clandestinely through the most inhospitable places of the US–Mexico border in an attempt
to elude border patrol agents and other control policies (Eschbach et al., 1999; Slack et al., 2016). In these places,
migrants face a combination of natural and social risks that, according to the International Organization for Migra-
tion, turn the US–Mexico border the second most dangerous migration corridor in the world (París Pombo, 2012;
Ruggiero & Berriozábal, 2020). In addition, these migration policies have increased the dependence of migrants
© 2023 International Organization for Migration.
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