mobile phones and other information practices among undocumented migrants at the us-mexico border

Mobile phones and information practices among undocumented migrants at the US-Mexico border

Ricardo Gómez, Verónica Guajardo, Bryce Newell, Sara Vannini

The busiest land border in the world and the most heavily patrolled

Mainstream narratives

Contributions Results Methodology Research Questions Context

US Republican candidate Donald

Trump insists

Mexico will pay for border wall “100%”

in major immigration speech

BBC News

Sept. 2, 2016 04:26 AM

Locations of the deceased bodies of unauthorized border-crossers

in the Tucson Sector, 2010–2013 (n=706).

[Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants]

How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during migration?


mobile phones


Latino migrants in the U.S. use ICTs mostly as a form of to connect with

the “back home”, negotiating identities between the two worlds.

[Baron, et al. 2013; Benitez 2006; Leonardi 2003; Srinivasan & Pyati 2007]


Prevalence of low-tech information means and word of mouth.

[de León 2012; Spener 2009]


…can ICTs help?

Interviews, photo-stories, observations

26 migrants, 12 aid-workers/volunteers at the shelter



22 from Mexico

1 was from Guatemala

3 from Honduras



22 male

4 female



22 recently deported

3 first time crossers

1 crossing again after time back in the South

Findings

Before crossing some calls are made But Word of Mouth is the most important source of information.

We ask friends. So you see another person from Honduras and they say, “Oh, I know somebody who I trust.” Or especially, if you have anybody you know who is already there in the U.S. then they tell you there’s this person and there’s that person who helps people come in, so you can contact them. Those are the options.

So basically, once we get here (to the shelter) we just ask the people who are here and who have been deported.

They tell us how they go in carrying drugs. That’s the information we have. So we take it from there, from what we hear from the other people who have been deported and who have more experience because they’ve already tried to cross before….

Misinformation Associations and aid-workers.

Aid-worker: It [coyote solicitation] is a huge business here in the city. […]

I think we work a lot to try and re-inform people, telling them that you do have to pay [the coyotes], that these are all occupied territories, that you can be in the desert for long time, from anywhere between a week and a month.

At the border, mobile phones can make migrants more vulnerable The use of phones and the disclosure of contacts’ numbers are a window to extortion and abuse.

The other day they [the Mexican mafia] caught us, and I thought that it would be the last day of my life. They have these big guns and they were pointing them at us and I was thinking they were going to kill us...

They took us, they took our shoes off, they took all our papers, they asked if we had any phone numbers of our friends, and that we had to give it to them.

I took my wallet very carefully and took out the phone numbers and threw them out and [now] I cannot communicate with any of my family anymore.

Aid Worker: Here and along the borders of the U.S. and Mexico, the migrants are just seen as a dollar sign.

So the migrant who comes here, they have relatives on the other side. So what do they [coyotes] do? They extort their family members, they get their phone numbers and try to extort the family. And their families, just to try to protect their relatives, they do whatever they can to send that money.

Technologies are not trusted They cannot replace a human guide.

There are organizations who are trying to help, and they use technology, organizations trying to help find water, or maps. If you were told that here there’s this cell phone that will point you to water, would you use it?

No, I don’t think so. Because, in the mountains it is very dangerous and just going on your own with a cell phone, no, I don’t think so.

I did not cross on the mountains. But what my other friends tell me is that they [the border patrol] use “moscos,” flies, I believe this is the drones, something that flies and observes from above. And that’s how you’re picked up. And cameras, they use cameras. And I believe they also have some wires, sensors, that if you step on it, they know that you’re there. That’s what I hear from others.

The possibilities of Facebook Perceived as a safer communication tool.

I would like to use Facebook to store my contacts, because then I wouldn’t risk losing my ability to contact family or friends, and my family wouldn’t be put at risk.

In a way, ever since I started having Facebook, I’ve never been disconnected. Even if I’m in a different place, I find internet so that I can be connected. […]

In the morning, I visited a cybercafé and uploaded pictures of the wall, so my family can see the wall, because they’ve heard about the wall so here they can see it in pictures… and so that way they will know where I am.

Concluding thoughts

ICTs are not privileged information means But they are used in certain situations to keep contact with the family of origin.

Facebook is perceived as safer than mobile phones as it is detached from a particular artefact.

Access to ICTs – with precautions It is necessary at public places or migrant shelters.

Need to inform better about the risks of crossing Migrants do not seem to trust ICTs for this.

ICTs are not privileged information means But they are used in certain situations to keep contact with the family of origin.

Facebook is perceived as safer than mobile phones as it is detached from a particular artefact.

Access to ICTs – with precautions It is necessary at public places or migrant shelters.

Need to inform better about the risks of crossing Migrants do not seem to trust wearables ICTs for this.

Thank you!

Dr. Sara Vannini

[email protected]

www.saravannini.com

mobile phones and other information practices among undocumented migrants at the us-mexico border

Education