Micropolitics of “Expedited” Time and the Governance of (Im)Mobility Under Title 42 at the United States-Mexico Border

This article examines how migration control operates through the expedited temporality of border expulsions under Title 42, a U.S. public health measure enforced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how expelled migrants experience this temporality and how it shapes their post-expulsion (im)mobility. The ethnographic research conducted in Tijuana shelters in 2022 and the 29 case studies show that the “expedited” framework allowed use of two expulsion temporalities by migrant profile: an “express” and a “non-express” involving detention, resulting in unequal experiences of suffering and precarious (im)mobility. While the micropolitics of expedited time governs long-term mobility, migrants’ persistence transforms waiting and circularity into everyday resistance. This study offers an original perspective on deportation policies, highlighting the migrant experience and the role of time in mobility governance.