In Mexico, in August 2021, the fieldwork mainly focused on Tenosique, Tabasco and El Ceibo, Guatemala. In both cities there are migrant shelters that provide humanitarian aid and legal assistance to migrants crossing Mexico, they are mainly Central and South Americans heading to the United States. Over the past 10 years, this border region has become an important route for migrants forced to flee their countries. In Tenosique, the freight train station, used by migrants to travel to northern Mexico, was a nodal point for this migratory route. As a response to the increase of the migratory flow, the ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter was founded in 2011. Currently, it provides support to -mainly- asylum seekers from Central America. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the closure of operations of the freight train -due to the development mega-projects implemented by the Mexican federal government-, new spatial and temporal migratory dynamics have recently emerged in this city.
Children activities carried out by “Save the Children.” Soccer field at the ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Main entrance of ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Palapa roof used as closet for a blanket. ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Temporary homes of transit migrants placed outside the ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Panoramic view of the Mexico-Guatemala border. El Ceibo, Guatemala. 
Group of migrants lining up to receive dinner outside the ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter, and at a Pentecostal mass. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Migrant persons resting in front of the main entrance of the ‘La 72’ Migrant Shelter. Tenosique, Mexico. 
Soccer field and palapas used by refugees as temporary living space. Tenosique, Tabasco. 
Asylum seekers queuing at the facilities of the National Institute of Immigration (INM). Tenosique, Mexico.
At the same time, the border-crossing point between Guatemala and Mexico, El Ceibo, has consolidated in the last decade as a node-city for the migration industry. The recent massive deportations -of mainly Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran migrants detained in Mexico or in the United States- carried out at this border-crossing point, has caused an important transformation of the city. Since the beginning of August 2021, the Migrant Shelter ‘El Ceibo’ has provided support to dozens of deported migrants forced to return to their places of origin.
Vegetable wood boxes adapted as wardrobe in the women’s dormitory of the “La 72” shelter 
Mopeds to cross the Mexico-Guatemala border. 
Official crossing border point “El Ceibo” that divides Tabasco, Mexico from Guatemala. 
Mosquito nets and sheets used to increase privacy in the women’s dormitory at “La 72” 
Handicrafts made from empty soda cans by refugees to sell in the streets of Tenosique. 
Bathrooms of a “transit hotel” used by coyotes to accommodate migrants 
Symbolic demonstration by migrants claming the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico.
