Cargando…

Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to 1) estimate the burden of physical, sexual, and psychological violence among migrants in transit through Mexico to the US; and 2) examine the associations between experiencing violence and sociodemographic characteristics, migratory background, and heal...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Leyva-Flores, René, Infante, Cesar, Gutierrez, Juan Pablo, Quintino-Perez, Frida, Gómez-Saldivar, MariaJose, Torres-Robles, Cristian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6703673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31433820
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220775
_version_ 1783445397982674944
author Leyva-Flores, René
Infante, Cesar
Gutierrez, Juan Pablo
Quintino-Perez, Frida
Gómez-Saldivar, MariaJose
Torres-Robles, Cristian
author_facet Leyva-Flores, René
Infante, Cesar
Gutierrez, Juan Pablo
Quintino-Perez, Frida
Gómez-Saldivar, MariaJose
Torres-Robles, Cristian
author_sort Leyva-Flores, René
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to 1) estimate the burden of physical, sexual, and psychological violence among migrants in transit through Mexico to the US; and 2) examine the associations between experiencing violence and sociodemographic characteristics, migratory background, and health status in this vulnerable population. METHOD: A cross-sectional study combining qualitative and quantitative methods was carried out from 2009 to 2015 with a sample of 12,023 migrants in transit through Mexico to the US. Information on gender (male, female, and transsexual, transgender and transvestite -TTTs-); nationality; health status; migratory background; and experiences with violence was obtained. Fifty-eight migrants participated in in-depth interviews to explore any experiences of violence during their journey. A descriptive analysis was performed and a probit regression model was applied to analyze the factors associated with violence. Qualitative information was analyzed to understand experiences, meanings and responses to violence. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of suffering from any form of violence was 29.4%. Nearly 24% reported physical violence, 19.5% experienced psychological violence, and approximately 2% reported sexual violence. TTTs experienced a significantly greater burden of violence compared to men and women. Violence occurred more frequently among migrants from Central American (30.6%) and other countries (40.0%) than it did among Mexican migrants (20.5%). Experiences involving sexual, physical and psychological violence as well as theft and even kidnapping were described by interviewees. Migrants mistrust the police, migration authorities, and armed forces, and therefore commonly refrain from revealing their experiences. CONCLUSION: Migrants are subjected to a high level of violence while in transit to the US. Those traveling under irregular migratory conditions are targets of even greater violence, a condition exacerbated by gender inequality. Migrants transiting through Mexico from Central American and other countries undergo violence more frequently than do Mexican migrants. Protective measures are urgently needed to ensure the human rights of these populations.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6703673
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-67036732019-09-04 Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015 Leyva-Flores, René Infante, Cesar Gutierrez, Juan Pablo Quintino-Perez, Frida Gómez-Saldivar, MariaJose Torres-Robles, Cristian PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to 1) estimate the burden of physical, sexual, and psychological violence among migrants in transit through Mexico to the US; and 2) examine the associations between experiencing violence and sociodemographic characteristics, migratory background, and health status in this vulnerable population. METHOD: A cross-sectional study combining qualitative and quantitative methods was carried out from 2009 to 2015 with a sample of 12,023 migrants in transit through Mexico to the US. Information on gender (male, female, and transsexual, transgender and transvestite -TTTs-); nationality; health status; migratory background; and experiences with violence was obtained. Fifty-eight migrants participated in in-depth interviews to explore any experiences of violence during their journey. A descriptive analysis was performed and a probit regression model was applied to analyze the factors associated with violence. Qualitative information was analyzed to understand experiences, meanings and responses to violence. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of suffering from any form of violence was 29.4%. Nearly 24% reported physical violence, 19.5% experienced psychological violence, and approximately 2% reported sexual violence. TTTs experienced a significantly greater burden of violence compared to men and women. Violence occurred more frequently among migrants from Central American (30.6%) and other countries (40.0%) than it did among Mexican migrants (20.5%). Experiences involving sexual, physical and psychological violence as well as theft and even kidnapping were described by interviewees. Migrants mistrust the police, migration authorities, and armed forces, and therefore commonly refrain from revealing their experiences. CONCLUSION: Migrants are subjected to a high level of violence while in transit to the US. Those traveling under irregular migratory conditions are targets of even greater violence, a condition exacerbated by gender inequality. Migrants transiting through Mexico from Central American and other countries undergo violence more frequently than do Mexican migrants. Protective measures are urgently needed to ensure the human rights of these populations. Public Library of Science 2019-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6703673/ /pubmed/31433820 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220775 Text en © 2019 Leyva-Flores et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Leyva-Flores, René
Infante, Cesar
Gutierrez, Juan Pablo
Quintino-Perez, Frida
Gómez-Saldivar, MariaJose
Torres-Robles, Cristian
Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title_full Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title_fullStr Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title_full_unstemmed Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title_short Migrants in transit through Mexico to the US: Experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
title_sort migrants in transit through mexico to the us: experiences with violence and related factors, 2009-2015
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6703673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31433820
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220775
work_keys_str_mv AT leyvafloresrene migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015
AT infantecesar migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015
AT gutierrezjuanpablo migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015
AT quintinoperezfrida migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015
AT gomezsaldivarmariajose migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015
AT torresroblescristian migrantsintransitthroughmexicototheusexperienceswithviolenceandrelatedfactors20092015