Far from Home: Mexican Women Deported from the US to Tijuana, Mexico

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study on deported women in Tijuana, Mexico. It describes the experiences and post-deportation emotions of these women and analyzes the role of the shelter as an in-between space amidst the two countries, amidst the loss that deportation represents and the women's potential recovery process, considered as their return home. The paper discusses the emotions related to family separation and the motivations that lead migrants to attempt crossing back into the US. In their efforts to re-enter the country, many of these women put their lives or personal integrity at risk by having to take dangerous and unsafe routes. If they succeed and make it back to their homes, they would live in permanent fear of being arrested and imprisoned, for months or even years, for the “crime” of having returned to the US without authorization.