Last December, the Trump administration enacted a scheme requiring Central American asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their legal proceedings drag on indefinitely in the United States.
The Migrant Protection Protocols policy - a handily perverse euphemism - is the approximate equivalent of calling the Exxon Valdez oil spill the Marine Life Protection Initiative. As various human rights and advocacy organisations have pointed out, the border programme has exposed tens of thousands of asylum seekers to violence; including rape, kidnapping and assault, in the unsure border regions of Mexico.
In light of the surplus of rapes and other abuses already documented as a result of so-called "protection", the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - marked annually on November 25 - is an ideal occasion to reflect on the violence facing migrant women in an era of mass migration.
As the UN Women website observes : " Rape is rooted in a complex set of patriarchal beliefs, power, and control that continue to create a social environment in which sexual violence is pervasive and normalised."
For an idea of the extent of normalisation, just recall Patriarch-in-chief President Donald Trump's own previous advice about fondling women without their consent: "Grab 'em by the p****."
Migrant women, of course, are particularly vulnerable to "grabbing" - and much worse - especially given that crimes against migrants are not generally reported or prosecuted. And for Central American women transiting Mexico to the US border, sexual assault is frequently par for the course.
Lest anyone assume that this validates the Trumpian vision of Mexico as composed of rapists and criminals , however, just recall the epidemic of rape in the US's own military - not to mention rampant claims of sexual abuse of immigrant children held at US detention facilities. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.