Presented at the 4S-EASST conference, Barcelona, September 2016

1. Mobile phones and information
practices among undocumented
migrants at the US-Mexico border
Ricardo Gómez, Verónica Guajardo, Bryce Newell, Sara Vannini

2. The busiest land border in the world
and the most heavily patrolled

3. Mainstream narratives
ContributionsResultsMethodologyResearch QuestionsContext

4. US Republican candidate Donald
Trump insists
Mexico will pay for border wall “100%”
in major immigration speech
BBC News
Sept. 2, 2016 04:26 AM

7. Locations of the deceased bodies of unauthorized border-crossers
in the Tucson Sector, 2010–2013 (n=706).
[Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants]

8. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?

9. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?
mobile phones

10. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?
Latino migrants in the U.S. use ICTs mostly as a form of to connect with
the “back home”, negotiating identities between the two worlds.
[Baron, et al. 2013; Benitez 2006; Leonardi 2003; Srinivasan & Pyati 2007]

11. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?

12. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?
Prevalence of low-tech information means and word of mouth.
[de León 2012; Spener 2009]

13. How do Hispanic undocumented migrants to the US
seek, acquire, and use information prior to and during
migration?
…can ICTs help?

14. Interviews, photo-stories, observations
26 migrants, 12 aid-workers/volunteers at the shelter

15. Interviews, photo-stories, observations
26 migrants, 12 aid-workers/volunteers at the shelter
22 from Mexico
1 was from Guatemala
3 from Honduras

16. Interviews, photo-stories, observations
26 migrants, 12 aid-workers/volunteers at the shelter
22 male
4 female

17. Interviews, photo-stories, observations
26 migrants, 12 aid-workers/volunteers at the shelter
22 recently deported
3 first time crossers
1 crossing again after time back in the South

18. Findings

19. Before crossing some calls are made
But Word of Mouth is the most important
source of information.

20. We ask friends. So you see another person from Honduras
and they say, “Oh, I know somebody who I trust.” Or
especially, if you have anybody you know who is already
there in the U.S. then they tell you there’s this person and
there’s that person who helps people come in, so you can
contact them. Those are the options.

21. So basically, once we get here (to the shelter) we just ask the
people who are here and who have been deported.
They tell us how they go in carrying drugs. That’s the
information we have. So we take it from there, from what we
hear from the other people who have been deported and who
have more experience because they’ve already tried to cross
before….

22. Misinformation
Associations and aid-workers.

23. Aid-worker: It [coyote solicitation] is a huge business here in
the city. […]
I think we work a lot to try and re-inform people, telling
them that you do have to pay [the coyotes], that these are all
occupied territories, that you can be in the desert for long
time, from anywhere between a week and a month.

24. At the border, mobile phones can make
migrants more vulnerable
The use of phones and the disclosure of contacts’
numbers are a window to extortion and abuse.

25. The other day they [the Mexican mafia] caught us, and I thought
that it would be the last day of my life. They have these big guns
and they were pointing them at us and I was thinking they were
going to kill us...
They took us, they took our shoes off, they took all our papers,
they asked if we had any phone numbers of our friends, and that
we had to give it to them.
I took my wallet very carefully and took out the phone numbers
and threw them out and [now] I cannot communicate with any of
my family anymore.

26. Aid Worker: Here and along the borders of the U.S. and
Mexico, the migrants are just seen as a dollar sign.
So the migrant who comes here, they have relatives on the
other side. So what do they [coyotes] do? They extort their
family members, they get their phone numbers and try to
extort the family. And their families, just to try to protect
their relatives, they do whatever they can to send that money.

27. Technologies are not trusted
They cannot replace a human guide.

28. There are organizations who are trying to help, and they
use technology, organizations trying to help find water, or
maps. If you were told that here there’s this cell phone that
will point you to water, would you use it?
No, I don’t think so. Because, in the mountains it is very
dangerous and just going on your own with a cell phone, no,
I don’t think so.

29. I did not cross on the mountains. But what my other friends
tell me is that they [the border patrol] use “moscos,” flies, I
believe this is the drones, something that flies and observes
from above. And that’s how you’re picked up. And cameras,
they use cameras. And I believe they also have some wires,
sensors, that if you step on it, they know that you’re there.
That’s what I hear from others.

30. The possibilities of Facebook
Perceived as a safer communication tool.

31. I would like to use Facebook to store my contacts, because
then I wouldn’t risk losing my ability to contact family or
friends, and my family wouldn’t be put at risk.

32. In a way, ever since I started having Facebook, I’ve never
been disconnected. Even if I’m in a different place, I find
internet so that I can be connected. […]
In the morning, I visited a cybercafé and uploaded pictures
of the wall, so my family can see the wall, because they’ve
heard about the wall so here they can see it in pictures… and
so that way they will know where I am.

33. Concluding thoughts

34. ICTs are not privileged information means
But they are used in certain situations to keep
contact with the family of origin.
Facebook is perceived as safer than mobile phones
as it is detached from a particular artefact.
Access to ICTs – with precautions
It is necessary at public places or migrant shelters.
Need to inform better about the risks of crossing
Migrants do not seem to trust ICTs for this.

35. ICTs are not privileged information means
But they are used in certain situations to keep
contact with the family of origin.
Facebook is perceived as safer than mobile phones
as it is detached from a particular artefact.
Access to ICTs – with precautions
It is necessary at public places or migrant shelters.
Need to inform better about the risks of crossing
Migrants do not seem to trust wearables ICTs for this.

36. Thank you!
Dr. Sara Vannini
vanninis@uw.edu
www.saravannini.com