Asylum Seekers’ Rights Denied and Border Communities Disrupted: Ethnographic Accounts on the 2023 Border Closure in Lukeville, Arizona

This paper examines the humanitarian, social, and economic disruptions resulting from the 2023–2024 closure of the Lukeville, Arizona, Port of Entry (PoE). Drawing on collaborative ethnographic fieldwork, including semi-structured and informal interviews, observation, and participation in local community events, we examine how a rural, unincorporated community handled a historic border closure. Further, we analyze how the closure impacted migrants, especially asylum seekers, who were excluded from protection due to bureaucratic and discretionary decision-making. The closure not only disrupted asylum access but also humanitarian aid networks, local economies, cross-border families, and Indigenous sovereignty, producing a geography of sanctioned neglect. These findings demonstrate how federal enforcement decisions, often made without considering borderland communities’ realities, frequently lead to their further destabilization while these areas are already navigating structural abandonment. We conclude with recommendations emphasizing harm reduction and preparation practices to mitigate future disruptions.