Stuck in Motion: Inhabiting the Space of Transit in Central American Migration

In this article, I examine what it means to inhabit the space of transit; I argue for an analysis centered on the “middle,” rather than thinking of this “in between” primarily in relationship to places and moments on either side. This article answers calls to focus on the migration journey, adding an anthropological lens to the human condition of being in between. I discuss the migration of undocumented Central Americans in Mexico, and detail how both the criminalization of migrants and approaches to their care in transit push people into further motion. Using the accounts of migrant smugglers and victimized migrants, I show how the regional migration regime produces and perpetuates clandestine movement, which keeps many migrants stuck in motion. As more people are made to inhabit the space of transit, it is critical to understand the roles that are produced there, and how they are read, reacted to, and deployed by states, humanitarian actors, and the migrants themselves. [ethnography of the mobile, human smuggling, transit migration].