Seventeenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of immigration policies during COVID-19 on various racialized migrant populations along the US-Mexico border. A combination of rising migration rates and increasingly exclusionary immigration policy created an unparalleled period of time for migrants in the border region. By incorporating evidence from personal testimony of professionals in the field of migrant aid and the migrants themselves, this study clearly demonstrates the extent to which immigrants were forced to suffer and face exclusionary policies. The conditions implemented as a result of Title 42, Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), and the Huisha agreements were all unique to the response of the Trump and Biden administrations during the COVID-19 crisis. The results of these policies had detrimental effects on the migrant population, and violated international human rights law. Central American, Haitian, and Middle Eastern migrants were studied to have experienced this period of time in the borderlands in various manners, all which pertain to their ethno-racial background and the political attitudes that denote their country of origin. This study engages with the concept that cultural differences and racial biases determine the experience of migrants while in the process of seeking refuge in the United States. In addition to this, the methods that the United States government went about managing the humanitarian crisis during COVID-19 were found to clearly exclude the migrant population from consideration of their human rights. Instead, mainly nonprofit organizations were almost fully responsible for the well being of thousands of vulnerable migrant families and individuals.