abstract: The purpose of this research was to understand the migration process as experienced by unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIMs). That is, to form a better understanding of why they seek migration, what motivates their migration, what happens to them on their migration journey, and how they adapt to their new communities in the United States. Using qualitative research methods, 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews were collected, along with 12 ethnographic interviews, and participant observations. The immigrants’ narratives were rich with data, and capture the plight that UIMs undertake as they leave their home countries. This study analyzes the dynamic of age in all facets of the migration process, by taking into account that children are participants of the migration process just as much as adults. The dissertation generated several findings; the first was to provide a profile of an Unaccompanied Minor, and for the sake of the study, only participants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were interviewed. From those interviewed, we learned that UIMs are a heterogeneous group. They come from diverse backgrounds in terms of household structures; (nuclear family structures, single-parent structures, extended-family structures, and migrant-family structures). Also, education levels varied; (some finished elementary or even secondary school, but for those living in rural areas it was harder to attend school due to the distance and availability of educational facilities). Many also worked in the labor force from an early age. One salient theme that UIMs talked about in relation to their home life was how the increase in violence in many Latin American countries was threatening their safety, especially for UIMs from El Salvador and Honduras. The next major finding was the ability to see the multiple stages UIMs experience, including: initiation/decisions to migrate, journey, arrival/adaptation and what takes place in each of these stages. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sociology 2016

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux effets de l’opposition entre les dynamiques migratoires et les dynamiques de contrôle frontalier. L’étude se centre sur le flux de migrants centraméricains à destination des États-Unis. Ce flux transite par un système de frontières formé d’une zone tampon sur l’ensemble du territoire mexicain et d’une frange érigée en rempart high-tech à la frontière sud des États-Unis. Dans cet immense espace, la frontière a créé des marges par où les migrants tentent la contourner en traversant par une économie souterraine structurée autour de l’abus aux migrants clandestins en transit. L’analyse du système migratoire d’un village des hautes terres du Guatemala montre comment le flux persiste malgré la frontière par l’action en réseau de migrants. La comparaison entre une trentaine d’expériences d’hommes et de femmes en mobilité clandestine sur la route de transit révèle que la frontière s’abat sur les acteurs dans des modalités spécifiques selon leur genre et leurs ressources sociales, économiques et de mobilité. Les migrants éprouvent la frontière comme un espace d’adversité auquel ils doivent s’adapter en permanence en l’assumant intégralement afin de pouvoir continuer leur voyage vers le lieu qu’ils imaginent au nord. Ce travail, fondé sur des enquêtes de terrain réalisées entre 2005 et 2012 dans des lieux d’origine, de transit et de destination disséminés dans l’espace migratoire, cherche à illustrer comment un flux migratoire et ses acteurs réagissent à un système frontalier contemporain. / This thesis addresses the effects of the conflict between migration dynamics and the dynamics of border enforcement. The study focuses on the flow of Central American migrants heading to the United States. This flow follows a system of borders formed by a buffer zone throughout Mexican territory and a strip of land erected as a high-tech rampart on the southern border of the United States. Across this immense space, the border has created margins that migrants try to circumvent by entering an underground economy structured around the abuse on clandestine migrants in transit. The analysis of the migratory system of a village in Guatemalan highlands shows how the migration flow persists, despite the border, through the action in network of migrants. The comparison of about thirty experiences of men and women in clandestine movements reveals that the border affects the various actors in specific ways, depending on their gender as well as their social, economic and mobility resources. Migrants experience the border as a space of adversity to which they must constantly adapt to, by assuming it integrally, in order to be able to continue their journey to the place they imagine northward. This work, based on field investigations conducted between 2005 and 20012 during different stages of the migratory process (e.g. in places of origin, transit and destination) seeks to illustrate how a migration flow and its actors react to a contemporary system of borders.