A Working Framework on Multinational Mobility: Haitians’ Post-2010 Journeys from South America to Mexico

The purpose of this article is to outline a model of multinational mobility as revealed via the trajectories Haitian migrants embark on today. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews administered to migrants in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, recount the “lived experience” of Haitians’ migratory journeys, including protracted displacement. Research findings show that the complex and “long arc” of migration involves paying attention, across time and space, to stepwise and onward migration, (im)mobility, agency in waiting, and instrumental emplacement, all of them constitutive elements, sometimes fully, sometimes partially, of multinational mobility. Aspirations, opportunities, and expectations also play a role in the dynamics of multinational mobilities. A turn of events along a trajectory may induce new goals, perhaps recalibrating or reformulating any previous plans, that is, the readjustment of an imagined “horizon of migration.” Results from this study also indicate that multinational mobilities do not follow a unidirectional path; hence, they must be analyzed from a processual standpoint. Haitians’ current journeys through the Americas offer valuable insights into multinational mobility, a fluid and common experience among those populations on the move who are in search of safety and stability.