Border Internalization and the Politics of Community Care in Texas

Drawing on four years of ethnographic research in Chiapas State (Mexico), Darién Province (Panama), and Texas, this project examines how U.S. border externalization and changing asylum regimes shape violence, human-rights protections, and community care across three critical border regions in the Americas. The final phase of this ethnographic research in the U.S. focuses on documenting shifting asylum and immigration protections that shape access to health and social services. The study analyzes how migration policies shape social service programs and how community-based organizations respond to barriers to inclusion and access to care. Ethnographic methods illuminate the everyday practices of care, legal and bureaucratic constraints, and grassroots strategies to ensure access to social services.