International Migration and Climate Change: Connections and Disconnections between Mexico and Central America

Abstract

Climate change in Central America generates, among other effects, migrations inside and outside the countries of origin. The Central American migration that travels through Mexico is important because of its volume, because it is undocumented and diversified socially, by gender and age. Some Mexican localities susceptible to climate change are on the migratory routes through Mexico, while others with the same susceptibility may be receivers of emerging indefinite settlements from those who expect a response to their request for refuge in the United States, since 2019. The objective of this article is to analyze the possible relationship between the Mexican localities with climatic problems and the transit of Central American migrations, as well as referring the risks of those who are receivers of the new settlements. Based on secondary sources and empirical results, these processes are analyzed from a procedural historical perspective. The conclusions point to knowledge gaps, mixed migratory flows that include migrants for climatic reasons, transit through a low number of Mexican towns with climate risk, dispersed by migratory routes and also to processes with some connections and others that, without having them, do not escape the risk of fostering possible social intolerances.