Protecting unaccompanied migrant youth in transit through Mexico: Frontline perspectives on appropriate policy implementation

Abstract

Mexico is the world's largest global migration corridor and in the last decade there has been an increase in forced migration of families, women, and unaccompanied children and adolescents. The latter population requires specific policy and implementation frameworks due to increased vulnerability related to their age, gender, and unaccompanied status, which can seriously impact their long-term health and wellbeing. However, globally and in Mexico there are reports of lack of appropriate implementation of protection measures. Thus, this article aims to explore the perspectives of frontline workers who conduct daily work with unaccompanied migrant youth. Through 29 semi-structured interviews conducted with different migration workers, mostly based in Mexico, in summer 2021, we found that possibilities for advancing child rights exist even with a scarcity of resources. In fact, although workers highlighted a context of lack of resources, partly determined by a political vision that does not recognize humanity as a priority, specific skills and knowledge were identified for fostering migrant youth resilience. Knowledge such as clear best interests of the child guidelines, and skills such as empathy, adaptation, and recognition of agency of young people enabled some workers to provide appropriate safeguarding. However, we highlight how the contextual scarcity of services overruns individual worker capacities, leading to a lack of appropriate safeguarding overall. Based on worker perspectives, we provide recommendations for appropriate policy implementation. Results are reported according to Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines.