Directly over the US-Mexico border. Bill Morrow/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by)
The people of Central America who migrate and flee to Mexico, the United States or Canada include mixed migration flows and mixed populations. Along the routes one can find people who have been displaced, persecuted or expelled alongside vendors, temporary workers, and travelers. The majority of those who rely on this migration corridor are people from the northern triangle of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Although the mass exodus of people from these countries is not recent, reinforced border control is – especially at crossing points (formal and informal) along the Mexico-Guatemala and Mexico-Belize borders, as well as in the states of southeast Mexico. In recent years, the difficulty for migrants to travel through this south-north passage has increased, with Mexico becoming the main hunter of Central Americans without a regular migration status.
Due to this constraint in migratory flows, the wide variety of social actors who participate within this migratory corridor have been driven to diversify the tactics and strategies that facilitate the crossing of Central American migrants to Mexico and the United States. Their roles in enabling transit across the southern Mexican border is thus of great importance, as their choices can determine some of the events undocumented migrants face on their journeys. Guides and coyotes are two of the main actors helping migrants to cross the border. The first are people who generally know the migration routes and often hold legal residence permits for one or more countries. They are in charge of guiding migrants in their journeys to avoid risks, primarily deportation but also kidnappings or extortion. Coyotes, on the other hand, are in charge of making the clandestine border crossing and coordinating logistics and strategies to ensure full service for the customer. Guides and coyotes try to offer an efficient and safe service to their clients, as the former's success depends on migrants continuing to hire their services during their journeys.
