Americas Migration Brief - July 21, 2025
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🇸🇻 El Salvador
In an example of local initiative, “the mayor's office of Chalatenango Norte issued a municipal ordinance for the care and protection of migrants and their families within the municipality… Chalatenango Norte will assist returning migrants in achieving economic self-sufficiency through skills development, vocational training, job placement, business development support, access to banking, microcredit, budget and financial counseling, collective income-generating activities, and community-level financial support activities, providing them with skills and resources to reestablish a sufficient and sustained source of income for the individual and their family,” reports El Diario de Hoy.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
El País highlights the challenges faced by Nicaraguan migrants attempting to enter the university system in Costa Rica and the role of the Ridhe network in providing funding and legal support.
🇨🇱 Chile
Olaya Grau and Diego Chaparro review at La Tercera the Boric administration’s migration policy and the many migration-related challenges in Chile, highlighting the pitfalls of a reactive approach and the need for long-term planning: “Success will not be measured solely by regularization or expulsion figures, but by the ability to build a sustainable migration model that respects rights and prepares the country for a multicultural reality that is no longer a future possibility, but a present reality.”
🇪🇨 Ecuador
An El Barómetro report investigates xenophobia and discrimination against Colombian and Venezuelan migrant women in Ecuador.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Mexicans protest against gentrification and US migration” (Reuters)
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
Following the discovery of two decomposing bodies—believed to be Venezuelan migrant women—in an unmarked grave, advocates are drawing attention to the risk this population faces in Trinidad and Tobago. Many fear reporting crimes to authorities due to a lack of legal status. (Daily Express)
🇸🇻 El Salvador
“Human rights NGO Cristosal is suspending operations and going into exile, reports Reuters, amid increasing crackdowns on government critics carried out by the Bukele administration. Twenty Cristosal employees have fled the country in recent weeks,” writes Arianna Kohan at Latin America Daily Briefing.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
A report by NYU’s Global Justice Clinic “details alarming patterns of human rights abuses committed by Dominican authorities against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, as the government ramps up deportations under a policy enacted in October 2024 that calls for at least 10,000 Haitians to be deported a week,” reports The Haitian Times.
Deportations have not necessarily kept up with these quotas, yet remain high and continuous: “Dominican immigration detains more than two thousand Haitians in one day” (Prensa Latina)
🇺🇸 United States
“An 82-year-old man in Pennsylvania was secretly deported to Guatemala after visiting an immigration office last month to replace his lost green card, according to his family, who have not heard from him since and were initially told he was dead,” reports The Guardian, noting that he had been granted asylum nearly 40 years ago “after being tortured under the regime of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.”
“The Trump administration is making it much more difficult for women fleeing gender-based violence in other countries to immigrate to the United States” and seek asylum, reports Mother Jones.
A Women’s Refugee Commission report explores the impact of US aid cuts on displaced women in Honduras, particularly those facing gender-based violence.
National Immigration Forum summarizes and explains the Dignity Act of 2025, a bipartisan immigration reform proposal (re)introduced in the House of Representatives.
Although 10 House Republicans have joined on thus far, Migrant Insider notes, “The Dignity Act is expected to face stiff resistance in the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee, where immigration bills are often blocked before they reach the floor.”
The Dignity Act includes reforms to the asylum system. The “border crisis” under the Biden administration was “to a large extent, an asylum crisis,” writes former official Blas Nuñez-Neto at The New York Times.
“As the refugee program has been halted since January because of an executive order, the ongoing litigation is showing some changes. In May, a judge ordered the resettlement program to restart, and in Arizona some of the 160 refugees ordered to be processed are finally arriving, reports Alisa Reznick of KJZZ,” explains the Forum Daily. However, “many more still remain in limbo,” notes Reznick.
“A U.S. appeals court has blocked for now a bid by President Donald Trump's administration to strip temporary protected status from thousands of Afghans in the United States,” reports Reuters.
ProPublica highlights the story of one of the Venezuelan migrants disappeared by the Trump administration to El Salvador. (see more in the following section under “United States and Regional”)
“ICE is a Terror organization,” says Pirate Wire Services, arguing that their behavior under the Trump administration draws parallels to paramilitary organizations in Latin America.
“DHS Faces New Pressure Over DNA Taken From Immigrant Children: The US government has added the DNA of approximately 133,000 migrant children and teens to a criminal database, which critics say could mean police treat them like suspects “indefinitely.”” (Wired)
“Almost 200 former senior-level U.S. government officials who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations released a letter to Congressional leaders today calling on them to act urgently to avert a total collapse in U.S. humanitarian and refugee leadership… The letter comes amid historic cuts to U.S. humanitarian programming, most recently Secretary Rubio’s decision to dramatically downsize and effectively dismantle the U.S. Department of State Bureau for Populations, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and on the heels of the administration’s elimination of USAID.” (Refugees International)
“CBP recently released updated guidance titled ‘Family Unity Policy’ to reduce unnecessary separation of noncitizen children from their parents or legal guardians at ports of entry or between them,” explains Migrant Insider, finding that the new policy “is a step forward—a roadmap for improved consistency and accountability.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
St. Vincent Times considers the implications of St. Vincent and the Grenadines signing on to full free movement in Caricom (see last week’s AMB). “The initiative goes beyond mere labor mobility. Citizens will gain access to fundamental services that have traditionally been reserved for nationals, marking a significant step toward true regional integration. ‘Access to primary and public secondary education, access to emergency healthcare, and primary healthcare services provided by the government within the means and capacity of the receiving member state,’ (SVG PM) Gonsalves outlined, emphasizing the comprehensive nature of the agreement.”
Barbados hosted “a two-day bi-partite consultation of Caribbean workers’ and employers’ organisations on the development of a regional Labour Migration Policy Framework and Action Programme,” reports Observer, highlighting the continued development of the Caricom Migration Policy Framework.
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
The US deported 5 immigrants from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen to the small African nation of Eswatini. Eswatini has stated that it will work to send the migrants back to their respective countries of origin. (AP, New York Times; see last week’s AMB for more)
The group of 252 Venezuelan migrants disappeared and deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador has now been repatriated back to Venezuela; members of the group included asylum seekers that had fled their home country. In exchange, the Maduro government freed 10 jailed US citizens and permanent residents. (Washington Post, New York Times)
Hacked flight manifest data reported by 404 Media “reveals dozens more people on deportation flights to El Salvador who are unaccounted for” according to what limited information has been made publicly available by the US and Salvadoran governments following the three deportation flights conducted in March of this year. These individuals’ “status and existence has not been acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported in the press.”
Labor Migration
🇬🇾 Guyana
Guyana’s Attorney General’s Office is looking to prepare a “modern legislative framework” to facilitate bringing labor migrants to the country amid an oil boom. (Newsroom)
🇺🇸 United States
Amid the US agricultural sector’s heavy dependence on migrant workers in an irregular status, “The H-2A program, which has no annual cap, allows farm employers to hire foreign workers on a seasonal basis and has seen significant growth in recent years as the industry struggles to fill agricultural jobs,” reports Bloomberg. Notably, “The Trump administration is doing away with 2024 worker protection regulations for H-2A workers and set up a new office at the US Labor Department to streamline access to employment-based visas.”
🇨🇦 Canada
“The federal government announced last year that it would reduce the portion of the country’s temporary residents to 5 per cent of Canada’s total population by the end of 2026” — but the country is not on track to meet the goal with such a short timeline, per The Globe and Mail.
Migrants in Transit
🇪🇨 Ecuador
An IOM report explores trends among Ecuadorians that intend to migrate, that have migrated or been displaced internally, and that have returned from abroad.
Among the many findings, IOM estimates based on self-reports that 125,000 Ecuadorians have been internally displaced in the last 5 years—60% due to violence and 40% due to natural disasters (see also press release here). This contrasts with a recent finding from UNHCR and Ecuador’s Ombudsman’s Office, who estimate that 150,000 Ecuadorian families (or 300,000 individuals) have been internally displaced by violence between 2022 and 2024 (see AMB 6/23/25).
A UN report explores Ecuadorian emigration trends from 2010-2022.
🇨🇴 Colombia
In Colombia, “of the 20 shelters that once supported Venezuelan migrants along the route between Cúcuta and Bucaramanga, only three remain. The places that once offered guidance, shelter, and a chance to rest and regain strength before continuing the journey are gone,” reports Caracas Chronicles, warning of a lack of humanitarian support.
🇺🇸 United States
US “Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border recorded just over 6,000 apprehensions of migrants who entered the country without authorization, the lowest monthly tally ever reported by the agency,” reports CBS.
🇨🇺 Cuba
In addition to emigration, there is a high level of internal migration within Cuba, with rural areas depleting and many heading for Havana, per Diario las Américas.
Borders and Enforcement
🌎 Regional
Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas deported 260 Haitian and Cuban migrants this past week after multiple large-group apprehensions at sea. (EFE)
🇦🇷 Argentina
“The Milei administration has expelled its first immigrant as part of its controversial executive order 366/25,” seemingly doing so in violation of immigration laws, says Buenos Aires Herald: the individual was deported “on the grounds that he was in violation of an article of the Immigration Law that prohibits those with criminal records from remaining in the country. But this article only applies to those whose crimes earned sentences of three years or longer [his was 1.5 years]. What’s more, Martinez Piedraita’s children are Argentine, which makes him eligible for permanent residence.”
For more about the new Argentine policy, see AMB 5/19/25 and 6/9/25. As mentioned in last week’s announcement, paying subscribers have access to the full archive of the AMB, while free subscribers can check out old weekly briefs for up to 1 month.
🇧🇴 Bolivia
Bolivia is strengthening border controls, especially along the border with Argentina at Bermejo-Aguas Blancas, reports El Periódico. (see AMB 2/3/25 on recent discussion of Argentina building a border wall there)
🇵🇾 Paraguay
“Paraguay signs agreement with Interpol to strengthen immigration enforcement: The intention of the National Directorate of Migration and the Ministry of the Interior is to make it more difficult for travelers with arrest warrants to enter the country.” (H2Foz)
🇺🇸 United States
“U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Saturday that she was in talks with five Republican-led states to build another detention site inspired by the "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in Florida,” reports Reuters. Advocates are suing the Trump administration over a lack of access to legal counsel for those detained at the facility, explains the ACLU.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is racing to build migrant tent camps nationwide after receiving $45 billion in new funding, aiming to expand detention capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 beds by year-end,” reports Reuters.
As of now, ICE is sending detainees as far afield as Hawaii due to a lack of capacity, per Reason.
“On July 8, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the Trump administration had detained foreigners from 26 different countries at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base… As of July 8, there were 72 immigration-related detainees at Guantánamo Bay,” notes CEDA’s US-Cuba News Brief.
The number of immigrants held in detention by ICE dropped slightly on July 13 in comparison to two weeks prior, notes Austin Kocher at his Substack, highlighting that “the number without criminal convictions was the only group to increase in objective numbers, while immigrants with convictions or pending charges declined in absolute numbers.”
“Is ICE Intentionally Under-reporting Detainees? A Look at Anomalies in the Latest Detention Facility Data: ICE's detention facility data show weird math that erases previous detention stays and raises questions about the data's reliability.” (Austin Kocher and Adam Sawyer on Substack)
“The Trump administration has declared that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court,” reports Washington Post.
More on Migration
🇪🇨 Ecuador
Banco Bolivariano and CaixaBank are partnering to end sending fees for remittances sent by Ecuadorian migrants in Spain. (El Universo)