Migrant detention in Mexico, as a cornerstone of the Mexican Transit Control Regime, is intrinsically related to US migration control. Drawing on Katja Franko Aas’s ‘border penality’ and ‘abnormal justice’ conceptualizations, this paper argues that Transit Control Regimes are an abnormal bordering and the outcome of two trends of the geographies of migration control: reverberation and distancing. To examine how this abnormal bordering is enforced, following the ‘bordering as a practice’ research agenda, this paper analyses the practices of control, punishment, and deterrence used in Mexico’s migrant detention centres drawing on state agents’ narratives. Particular emphasis is given to clerical control, material conditions and disciplinary rules. The analysis presented sheds light on the precarious conditions of the facilities, the discrepancy between regulations and practice, questionable practices of control and discipline and the reality of migrant detention as a de facto punishment for migrants.

中文翻译：

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边界不正常：墨西哥移民拘留中心的控制，惩罚和威慑

作为墨西哥过境管制制度的基石，在墨西哥的移民拘留与美国的移民管制本质上相关。借鉴卡特娅·弗兰科·阿斯（Katja Franko Aas）的“边境刑罚”和“异常司法”概念，本文认为过境管制制度是一个不正常的边界以及迁移控制地理的两个趋势的结果：混响和疏远。为了研究如何强制执行这种非正常边界，按照“以边界为界”的研究议程，本文根据州特工的叙述，分析了墨西哥移民拘留中心所采用的控制，惩罚和威慑措施。特别强调文书控制，物质条件和纪律规则。所进行的分析揭示了设施的不稳定状况，规章制度与实践之间的差异，控制和纪律的可疑做法以及作为对移民的事实上的惩罚而对移民的拘留的现实。