ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2022
Deported, homeless, and into the canal: Environmental structural violence in the binational Tijuana River.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Considering water, sanitation, and hygiene as a valuable component of harm reduction.Harm reduction journal · 2026Review
- Adverse migration experiences, border community stress, and the mental health of asylum-seeking women in transit at the Mexico-U.S. border.SSM. Mental health · 2025Article
- Dermatologic Care and Skin Health of Migrant Populations in the US: A Scoping Review.JAMA dermatology · 2025Article
- Article
- Safe Injection Self-Efficacy is Associated with HCV and HIV Seropositivity Among People Who Inject Drugs in the San Diego-Tijuana Border Region.AIDS and behavior · 2024Article
- Illicit Fentanyl Use and Hepatitis C Virus Seroconversion Among People Who Inject Drugs in Tijuana and San Diego: Results From a Binational Cohort Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- Water, sanitation and hygiene insecurity predict abscess incidence among people who inject drugs in a binational US-Mexico metropolitan area: A longitudinal cohort study.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Safe Injection Self-Efficacy is associated with HCV and HIV seropositivity among people who inject drugs in the San Diego-Tijuana border region.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene access among people who inject drugs in Tijuana and San Diego in 2020-2021: a cross-sectional study.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- WaSH insecurity and anxiety among people who inject drugs in the Tijuana-San Diego border region.BMC public health · 2024Article
- A brief instrument measuring the water, sanitation and hygiene domain of menstrual health among women who inject drugs.PloS one · 2024Article
- Fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine-based counterfeit pills sold at tourist-oriented pharmacies in Mexico: An ethnographic and drug checking study.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Drug checking in the fentanyl era: Utilization and interest among people who inject drugs in San Diego, California.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) insecurity in unhoused communities of Los Angeles, California.International journal for equity in health · 2023Observational
- Fentanyl, Heroin, and Methamphetamine-Based Counterfeit Pills Sold at Tourist-Oriented Pharmacies in Mexico: An Ethnographic and Drug Checking Study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Correlates of recent overdose among people who inject drugs in the San Diego/Tijuana border region.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 11 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe US deports more Mexicans to Tijuana than any other borderland city. Returning involuntarily as members of a stigmatized underclass, many find themselves homeless and de-facto stateless. Subject to routinized police victimization, many take refuge in the Tijuana River Canal (El Bordo). Previous reports suggest Tijuana River water may be contaminated but prior studies have not accessed the health effects or contamination of the water closest to the river residents.
methodsA binational, transdisciplinary team undertook a socio-environmental, mixed methods assessment to simultaneously characterize Tijuana River water quality with chemical testing, assess the frequency of El Bordo residents' water-related diseases, and trace water contacts with epidemiological survey methods (n = 85 adults, 18+) in 2019, and ethnographic methods in 2019-2021. Our analysis brings the structural violence framework into conversation with an environmental injustice perspective to documented how social forces drive poor health outcomes enacted through the environment.
resultsThe Tijuana River water most proximate to its human inhabitants fails numerous water-quality standards, posing acute health risks. Escherichia coli values were ∼40,000 times the Mexican regulatory standard for directly contacted water. Skin infections (47%), dehydration (40%) and diarrhea (28%) were commonly reported among El Bordo residents. Residents are aware the water is contaminated and strive to minimize harm to their health by differentially using local water sources. Their numerous survival constraints, however, are exacerbated by routine police violence which propels residents and other people who inject drugs into involuntary contact with contaminated water. DISCUSSION: Human rights to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are routinely violated among El Bordo inhabitants. This is exacerbated by violent policing practices that force unhoused deportees to seek refuge in waterways, and drive water contacts. Furthermore, US-Mexico 'free-trade' agreements drive rapid growth in Tijuana, restrict Mexican environmental regulation enforcement, and drive underinvestment in sewage systems and infrastructure.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.