Abstract

On September the 13th, 2021, a growing number of Haitian migrants arrived in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, México, crossed the border into the United States (US), and formed a camp under the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas. This migratory phenomenon was controlled in a week by the American and the Mexican authorities in their respective territories. A group of approximately 350 migrants were housed in a shelter in Ciudad Acuña. The purpose of this study is to describe the sociodemographic, accompaniment and migratory mobility characteristics, the reasons for migrating and, their migratory perspectives, in a sample of people interviewed in a shelter. The results show a young population, half of whom were under 32 years of age, a male/female ratio of 2:1, of the total number of Haitians migrants from South America, 45.5% came from Chile, 34.5% from Brazil and 20% from other Southern Cone countries, half with secondary and higher education and mainly engaged in handicraft activities. Most of the migrants travelled accompanied, particularly with their partner and children. Eighty per cent of those interviewed said they had family members in the US and the main source of funding for the trip was family support. Among the reasons given for their departure from Southern Cone countries were, in order of importance, lack of work, insecurity, political crisis and racism. Network theory is proposed as a partial explanation for this migration from South America.

Keywords:
international migration; Mexico-United States border; American continent; Haitian migrants