“En la omisión está la acción”: Biopolitización de la migración en tiempos de pandemia en Nuevo León, México

This article explores the intrusion of power into the lives of migrant populations in Mexico during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from biopolitical theories, a documentary analysis of the state of Nuevo León, and interviews with key actors from civil society, it reveals control mechanisms that pathologize migrants. Contrary to official discourses, the exercise of power is characterized by two dynamics of disposability: an almost exclusive focus on repressive migration policies and a policy of omission that denies migrants in irregular situations access to healthcare services. Whether intentionally implemented or as an unreflective practice by authorities based on supposed health risks, these biopolitical devices align with the needs of the current hegemonic economic system, against which individuals develop strategies of resistance in an attempt to emancipate themselves from the forms of oppression that afflict them.