Mexico’s role in the US-Central American migration regime is threefold: not only is it a country of origin, and a transit country, but also increasingly becoming a receiving country for migrants who flee from violence, insecurity and poverty. The Mexican state responds with detention enforcement. Clinical research usually puts emphasise on the negative impact of detention enforcement on the detainees‘ mental health. Yet, it often disregards the spatial configurations of detention centres and their socio-political context. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing how such factors create harmful environments that affect both the detainees‘ mental health and their social life in Mexico’s migration detention centres. The study’s mixed method approach builds on semi-structured interviews with a sample of N = 56 migrants of diverse nationalities and varying socioeconomic status of whom 22 were still detained while 34 had been released. The interviews include the Torturing Environment Scale (TES), a novel instrument for the analysis of detention environments, as well as clinical psychological measures of emotional distress. Additional n = 10 in-depth interviews with human rights advocates to explore the interconnections between the detention environments, their impact on mental health, and Mexican migration politics. Facultative counter-mappings of the detention centres complement the interviews. Without exception, all interviews of detainees underline that the manipulation of detention conditions creates torturing environments that cause harm to basic physiological and psychological needs. A comparison between detained vs. released interviewees revealed lasting feelings of fear and shame. The study emphasises that immigration detention immobilises migrants in a necropolitical limbo, which destroys hope as much as human integrity. It indicates that detention is part of deterrence politics, which perpetuates harm and inequality through detention and deportation. Highlighting structural human rights violations, the findings stress the need to review current migration policies.

墨西哥在美国-中美洲移民制度中扮演着三重角色：它不仅是原籍国和过境国，而且日益成为逃离暴力、不安全和贫困的移民的接收国。墨西哥州以拘留执法作为回应。临床研究通常强调拘留执法对被拘留者心理健康的负面影响。然而，它常常忽视拘留中心的空间配置及其社会政治背景。本研究旨在通过分析这些因素如何创造影响墨西哥移民拘留中心被拘留者心理健康和社会生活的有害环境来填补这一空白。该研究采用混合方法，以半结构化访谈为基础，对N = 56 名不同国籍和不同社会经济地位的移民进行抽样调查，其中 22 人仍被拘留，34 人已获释。访谈包括酷刑环境量表（TES），这是一种用于分析拘留环境的新颖工具，以及情绪困扰的临床心理测量。另外，对人权倡导者进行了10次深度访谈，探讨拘留环境及其对心理健康的影响和墨西哥移民政治之间的相互联系。拘留中心的临时反制图对访谈进行了补充。所有对被拘留者的访谈无一例外地强调，对拘留条件的操纵创造了折磨环境，对基本的生理和心理需求造成伤害。被拘留者与获释者之间的比较显示出持久的恐惧和羞耻感。 该研究强调，移民拘留使移民陷入死亡政治的困境，这既摧毁了希望，也摧毁了人类的完整性。它表明拘留是威慑政治的一部分，威慑政治通过拘留和驱逐出境使伤害和不平等永久化。调查结果强调了结构性侵犯人权行为，强调有必要审查当前的移民政策。