Transit Migration as a Contested Process

Summary

Many people are forced to leave their homes because of violence, political conflict, or economic and environmental pressures. Most hope to settle in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, or member states of the European Union. However, these countries have implemented strict visa requirements to prevent displaced people from crossing their borders. Unable to enter their desired countries of destination directly, many displaced people travel by land and sea, crossing multiple countries along the way in an attempt to reach their destinations through clandestine means. The countries that migrants traverse en route to their desired destinations are commonly referred to as transit countries, and the people who pass through them are known as transit migrants. Mexico, Morocco, Libya, Turkey, the Balkan states, Malaysia, and Indonesia are often cited as examples of such transit states. The reception that transit migrants receive varies widely from one country to another. Under strong political, diplomatic, and financial pressure from northern countries, some transit states have strengthened migration control measures by detaining and deporting displaced people. Other states encourage migrants to seek legal status in the transit country and abandon their onward journeys. Northern countries frequently provide financial assistance and diplomatic incentives to transit states willing to host or settle these migrants.Many migrants, exhausted by the traumas and hardships encountered during their journeys—such as robbery, physical assault, injury, extortion, and sexual violence—choose to remain in a transit country temporarily. Others abandon their aspirations of reaching their intended destinations altogether. Still others pursue creative strategies to continue their journeys despite numerous obstacles, often with the assistance of smugglers or other actors within the so-called migration industry, as well as with support from solidarity activists and humanitarian non-governmental organizations.