Spirituality in spaces of waiting: Uncertainty and sacralization practices in migrant shelters at the US–Mexico border

This article aims to analyze the practices of sacralization deployed by migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers to cope with the waiting times to which they are subjected in contexts of migratory entrapment. The research is based on in-depth interviews and participant observation conducted in catholic, evangelical, Muslim, and secular shelters established in Tijuana (the northern border of Mexico), which we conceptualize as places of waiting. We identify four types of sacralization practices: invoking protection, seeking comfort, healing, and re-semanticizing suffering. Taken together, these practices are crucial in the search for well-being.