Americas Migration Brief - May 12, 2025
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
A report from El Barómetro and partners explores the inclusion of women and their unique needs in efforts to promote migrant integration in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Bloomberg looks at the long-running migratory relationship between the Brazilian town of Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais and the US, noting that the city has been affected by increased deportations by the Trump administration. “The city council is trying to offer more specialized assistance to reintegrate residents. This includes psychological support, assistance with documentation, access to social services, and use of the local job center.”
🇨🇱 Chile
A survey from the Center for Public Studies (CEP) in Chile finds that “55% of respondents believe there are significant differences and conflicts between migrants and Chileans, a significant jump from the 2023 survey, when this perception was shared by 44%.” (El País)
La Tercera corrects myths about migration in Chile.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
A CEPAL (ECLAC) paper looks at the living conditions of indigenous internal migrants in Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador.
🇨🇦 Canada
A new MOSAIC report highlights challenges faced by migrant healthcare workers in Canada, including reduced opportunity for licensure, reports Canadian Immigrant.
🇺🇸 United States
Alexander Kustov writes in a Substack guest post about how US public opinion about immigration is swinging back against Trump and the role of “thermostatic” attitudes. As for the path forward, Kustov adds, “Relative warmth toward immigration is a chance to enact durable, evidence-based reforms. Rather than swinging to the opposite extreme or proclaiming “the people are with us” (until they’re not), leaders should focus on policies that both the experts and the public can recognize as functional and in the national interest.”
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
A report from the Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) found “significant concerns regarding the living conditions in immigration detention centres” in a 2023 visit of the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe and French Guiana, per a news release.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
“Human rights organizations denounce that the Costa Rican government participated in a series of human rights violations against migrants expelled by the U.S. government. By receiving these individuals—including children and adolescents—arbitrarily and illegally detaining them for more than 60 days, denying them adequate information, and failing to guarantee the principle of non-refoulement, the Costa Rican State violated their rights,” according to CEJIL, SJM-CR, and AFSC in a new report looking at the conditions faced by third-country deportees sent by the US to Costa Rica earlier this year. (news release)
“On April 21, the Costa Rican government published a resolution authorizing "the normalization of immigration status for foreigners deported from the United States of America (…) through the establishment of a special procedure." Since this resolution, people have been able to move freely outside of CATEM, and many have left the country—although the government has not followed up on these cases. However, those who remain in the country find themselves in a state of limbo, unsure of what to do or how to move forward with their lives, the organizations report.” (see also AMB 4/28/25)
“As humanitarian needs reach critical levels in Costa Rica, due to continuing displacement from Nicaragua, a 41 per cent funding cut is seriously impacting the ability of UNHCR… The asylum system itself is under strain. Capacity to register newly arrived asylum-seekers has dropped by 77 per cent, delaying access to the documentation needed to secure employment, health care and education. With more than 222,000 asylum claims still pending – including from other nationalities – this bottleneck threatens the entire protection system,” explains UNHCR.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Children migrating through Mexico in search of safety are being met with alarming levels of violence, family separation, and uncertainty at the country’s northern border, according to a new study by Plan International and Save the Children.” (report, press release)
An IMUMI report “describes the situation of the rights of women, girls, and adolescents in human mobility from January 2017 to February 2025” in Mexico.
🇨🇴 Colombia
El Tiempo highlights cases of exploitation of Venezuelan migrant workers in Colombia.
🇺🇸 United States
“The Trump administration is considering suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the legal right to challenge one’s detention… Suspending habeas corpus would be an extremely aggressive move that would dramatically escalate the Trump administration’s efforts to attack the rule of law in American courts as it tries to deport people without giving them a chance to challenge the basis of their removals,” reports The Guardian.
“In March 2025, immigration judges decided 10,933 asylum cases—more than in any other single month since at least 2001. And of those cases, 76% were denied—also the highest denial rate on record for any month in more than two decades… The Trump administration, which resumed in January 2025, appears to be fast-tracking asylum decisions with the clear goal of clearing the docket by simply denying as many people as possible, as quickly as possible… Between explicit policy changes and implicit threats to get in line or get fired, judges on the whole seem to be following orders to deny, deny, deny,” writes Austin Kocher at his Substack.
“The Trump administration has used a pattern of enforced disappearances to detain, remove, and expel countless asylum seekers, without any assessment of their asylum claims, in stark violation of U.S. law and international legal obligations,” according to a Human Rights First and Refugees International report highlighting abuses and refoulement of asylum seekers.
“The US named Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, two of Haiti’s largest criminal gangs / criminal alliances, as foreign terrorist organizations. As I wrote two weeks ago, “The goal of the designation is less about a security strategy for Haiti and more about creating a justification to deport Haitians to El Salvador,”” writes James Bosworth at Latin America Risk Report.
“The Trump administration is planning to bring the first group of white South Africans it has classified as refugees to the United States on Monday… Although the president halted virtually all other refugee admissions shortly after he took office in January, his administration hastily put together a program to allow in white South Africans, who he claims have been the victims of racial persecution in their home country,” reports The New York Times.
AP highlights how Afghan refugees that assisted US military efforts are now shut out from the US.
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow it to deport Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Venezuelans that entered the US under the Biden-era humanitarian parole program. (New York Times)
The American Immigration Council’s Immigration Impact blog reviews the budget reconciliation bill currently under debate in Congress, noting the massive increase in funding for detention and enforcement alongside the introduction and raise in fees for applications meant to access protection, such as for asylum or TPS.
“When viewed from 10,000 feet, the House bill represents a fundamental reshaping of American society and due process for immigrants. ICE would become more powerful than every other federal law enforcement agency, allowing for a level of immigration enforcement that has no historical precedent. Meanwhile, asylum would become effectively impossible for all but the people with enough money to jump through the absurd hoops put in place, and defending oneself in immigration court would become extraordinarily difficult for anyone without enough money to pay these new fees.”
An article at Georgetown highlights the particular impacts of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort on women and children, including exacerbating risks of gender-based violence.
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, noting, “Three federal judges’ rulings have challenged the basis of the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to target those it suspects of ties to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua criminal organization.”
🇨🇦 Canada
Asylum applications from those crossing from the US into Canada’s Quebec province have spiked since the new year, but week-to-week data shows numbers have been falling since early April. (Le Devoir)
“Migrant agricultural workers in Canada are calling on the federal government to raise the bar on “dirty” and “inhumane” living conditions which they say are “not meant for humans,” according to a new report,” reports CityNews.
🇬🇫 French Guiana
The overseas French department of French Guiana is increasingly receiving asylum applications, but camps where asylum seekers are living face unsanitary conditions, disease, and humanitarian concerns, reports Ouest-France.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
An IOM report analyzes “the relationship between gender and migration policies in South American countries, in the context of the development of the regional vision of the South American Conference on Migration (CSM).”
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
The Trump administration is looking to establish deals to deport third-country nationals to countries such as Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Libya, Moldova, and Rwanda, reports CBS, noting that such deportations have already been conducted with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama, and an agreement is in place with Guatemala, too.
“A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing migrants from being sent to Libya or any other third country after immigration attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday. The United States reportedly plans to send a group of migrants to Libya as early as this week,” reports NBC. Reuters notes that migrants that were to be deported there “sat on a military airfield tarmac for hours on Wednesday.” Al Jazeera, however, reports that authorities on either side of Libya’s civil war “have denied reports that they will receive undocumented migrants deported by the United States.”
“The United States should not forcibly transfer migrants to Libya, where inhumane detention conditions are well-documented, including torture, ill-treatment, sexual assault, and unlawful killings,” says Human Rights Watch.
Using US funds from an MoU signed last year with the Biden administration, Panama conducted deportation flights of 81 Darien Gap migrants from Cameroon, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. (AP)
The US continues to deport Venezuelans to their country of origin through flights via Honduras. (El Pitazo)
The Border Chronicle highlights diplomatic tensions between the US and Mexico over militarization of the border by the US.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the prime ministers of several eastern Caribbean countries to discuss regional cooperation on combating irregular migration, among other topics. (CNW)
🇨🇺🇲🇽 Mexico and Cuba
Mexican and Cuban officials met to discuss migration, agreeing to continue to cooperate on migration issues. (Milenio)
🇸🇷 Suriname
Dagblad Suriname discusses the newly presented National Migration Policy Plan and calls for whatever government wins in the May 25th elections to implement the new policy.
Labor Migration
🌎 Regional
A recent Inter-American Dialogue event highlighted the importance of labor migration pathways across the Americas, concluding that “when coupled with adequate protections and regional cooperation, well-designed migration pathways can support economic growth, expand opportunity, and reduce irregular flows,” according to a recap.
🇺🇸 United States
“A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to expand and make permanent a pilot program allowing H-1B visa holders to renew their visas without leaving the United States,” reports Migrant Insider.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
A Mixed Migration Centre brief based on surveys of Colombian migrants in transit across the Americas explores the motivations behind their emigration and their intentions, including that nearly two-third intend to seek asylum and that many take irregular routes despite their right to free movement in many South American countries.
Niskanen Center launched a monthly tracker on irregular migration of Chinese, Indian, and Russian migrants en route to the US.
CEDA launched a timeline and monthly tracker of Cuban migration.
🇵🇾 Paraguay
An increasing number of migrants—primarily from Brazil, as well as Argentina and elsewhere—are heading to Paraguay, with around 15,000 residency applications filed thus far in 2025. (EFE)
Borders and Enforcement
🇨🇱 Chile
The Chilean Senate approved the 90-day renewal of “special protection measures” at the country’s northern border, allowing for the deployment of the armed forces to reinforce border enforcement efforts. Irregular entries have reportedly decreased since the introduction of these measures in 2023, but there remains “the need to advance the draft rules for the use of force,” and some wish to reform the constitution to permanently grant border enforcement duties to the armed forces, per a news release.
🇺🇸 United States
“Trump on Friday said he signed a proclamation to create “Project Homecoming,” a nationwide campaign to reward undocumented immigrants who “self-deport” and to punish those who remain in the United States… The initiative will promote the $1,000 “exit bonus” and free flights home,” reports Washington Post. IOM will support these “assisted voluntary returns,” per a statement.
“The latest detention data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows that 49,184 immigrants were held in detention as of April 20, 2025. This represents modest growth from the previous detention totals of 47,928 on April 6, and much slower growth overall than the first few weeks of the Trump administration. This trend suggests that ICE may have run into funding or facility barriers after the agency’s initial rapid expansion of detention space,” explains Austin Kocher in a dive into the data at his Substack.
“Guantánamo Migrant Operation Has Held Fewer Than 500 Detainees, and None in Tents: The three-month-old operation never expanded to fulfill President Trump’s vision of housing 30,000 at the offshore U.S. base.” (New York Times)
“Invisible Gatekeepers: DHS’ Growing Use of AI in Immigration Decisions” (Immigration Impact)
The US has officially removed Romania from the visa waiver program. (Fragomen)