Sub-Saharan migrants ‘in transit’: intersections between mobility and immobility and the production of (in)securities

ABSTRACT

This article argues that addressing the security threats -and protection needs- of the so-called ‘transit migrants’ requires an understanding of (im)mobility as a politically constitutive force. In doing so, it points to the analytical advantages of expanding critical security studies in International Relations to include the politics of mobility, as opposed to a sedentary focus on the security-migration nexus. Building on the contributions of anthropologists and geographers of migration yet with a specific focus on understanding how (im)mobility and (in)security are mutually constitutive political practices that produce migrants’ travel experiences, the article problematizes the category of transit. By way of empirical illustration, the journey experiences of thirty-one sub-Saharan migrants as they traveled in Spain are reconstructed using a multi-sited ethnography, with the goal of analyzing the specific locations where mobility and immobility intersect, the co-production between (im)mobility and (in)security, and how migrants’ agency is transformed at these intersection nodes.

KEYWORDS:

• Transit migration
• security
• mobility
• critical security studies
• Sahel
• Morocco
• Spain

Acknowledgments

My thanks to all the migrants who agreed to participate in this research with such interest, respect, and dedication; to Mailen Álvarez, my research assistant; to Arlene B. Tickner, Wooldy Edson, Isaline Bergamaschi, and Amaya Querejazu for their enlightened comments. My acknowledgement also to the Centre for Diaspora and Migration Studies of SOAS at the University of London and the project Aristos Campus Mundus 2019_16 (In/Security on the Borders) for the financial support to carry out this research project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. See UNHCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) (2016, 2018); IOM- MICIC Initiative (International Organization for Migration – Migrants in Countries in Crisis Initiative) (2016); and Council of Europe (2015a, Council of Europe 2015b). Likewise, the Council of Europe has prepared several reports on transit areas in Europe (e.g., Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece) during 2017–2019, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has shown special concern for the vulnerability and special protection needs of children after their arrival and irregular circulation in Europe (e.g., Resolutions 2295 of 2019, 2195 of 2017, and 2136 of 2016).

2. The meetings were mainly conducted in Spanish. However, French-Spanish translation support was also used, as well as languages such as Mandingo (Senegal) and Susu (Guinea-Conakry). In these cases, translation depended on other migrants who knew these languages as well as Spanish.

3. The civil society organizations contacted expressed concerns about the participation female migrants due to their often fragile psychological states or fears of putting them at risk given suspicions that they might still be linked to trafficking networks, even if they had applied for asylum in Spain.

4. The cooperating organizations were the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR), Ongi Etorri, the Red de Acogida de Irún, SOS Racisme, and Project Itaka of the Colegio Escolapios de Bilbao.

5. Meeting held in Pamplona (Spain), January 30 and 31, 2019.

6. Meeting held in Pamplona (Spain), January 30 and 31, 2019.

7. Meeting held in San Sebastian (Spain), 12 April 2019.

8. Niger is the main beneficiary of the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, with a total of 241 million Euros and a forecast of 1 billion Euros for development aid until 2020 (OI (Oxfam Intermon) 2019: 3). The country is also part of the EU funded ‘Emergency Transit Mechanism,’ which has set up a centre in Niamey for the resettlement of asylum seekers and refugees evacuated from Libya by UNHCR.

9. Meeting held in Pamplona (Spain), January 30 and 31, 2019.

10. Meeting held in San Sebastian (Spain), 12 April 2019.

11. Meeting held in San Sebastian (Spain), 12 April 2019.

12. Meeting held in Bilbao (Spain), 9 May 2019.

13. Johnson (2013) offers a critical analysis of the city of Oujda as a space of exception for irregular migrants.

14. Meeting held in Bilbao (Spain), 8 May 2019.

15. Meeting held in Pamplona (Spain), January 30 and 31, 2019.

16. Meeting held in Bilbao (Spain), 8 May 2019.

17. Meeting held in Pamplona (Spain), January 30 and 31, 2019.