Welcome to the Americas Migration Brief! If you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing with a friend or colleague.
Se puede acceder aquí a una versión en español del boletín traducida por inteligencia artificial.
Consulte aqui uma versão em português do boletim traduzida por inteligência artificial.
If you are a regular reader of the AMB, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription for just $7/month or $65/year. Your paid subscription helps make this newsletter possible and grants you access to the full archive of Weekly Briefs.
The AMB has a broad impact across the hemisphere, but this work takes time: I need your support to sustain this newsletter.
Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
The World Bank should “expand access to concessional finance for middle-income host countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,” among other recommendations outlined by Refugees International.
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
“Members of the Venezuelan community in TT are living under a cloud of uncertainty as recent tensions between both countries and new measures announced by the Ministry of Homeland Security have caused concern among migrants, refugees, and humanitarian organisations. The announcement of a deportation plan and the temporary suspension of supervision permits for asylum seekers has created alarm. Many families fear that the situation could lead to arbitrary detentions or forced repatriations,” reports Newsday. (see also Newsday 1, 2)
A local NGO “has received dozens of calls from desperate families who are packing or giving up their rented homes,” reports Newsday, noting “many Venezuelans are making plans to move to countries like Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.”
🇪🇨 Ecuador
A Center for Global Development policy note examining five years of disaggregated detention data in Ecuador finds that despite criminalizing narratives against Venezuelan migrants, “Venezuelans are consistently underrepresented in crime statistics—accounting for only 1.3 percent of detentions in 2024 despite comprising over 2.5 percent of the population—and are far less likely to be formally detained after apprehension. Most crimes involving Venezuelans are non-violent and economically motivated, with a large majority committed by individuals lacking regular legal status.”
🇬🇾 Guyana
Guyana is launching an Electronic Identification (E-ID) program to register migrants who entered the country irregularly. Following a grace period, any migrant identified who is not registered may be subject to deportation. (Demerara Waves, News Source)
“The E-ID cards will differentiate between citizens and non-citizens. It will also integrate personal data into a secure digital and physical card for accessing government and private sector services… This E-ID will link to other systems, including TIN, bank account, and immigration records, and can be used for both digital and physical transactions,” per a press release.
🇭🇳 Honduras
An IDB technical note “presents the first systematic collection of information on returnees in Honduras, based on a survey of 1,230 individuals between one and four months after their return,” examining “the profiles and trajectories of this population, as well as the initial challenges of their reintegration.”
🇨🇴 Colombia
“As of May 2025, it is estimated that there are approximately 800,000 Venezuelan migrant children and adolescents in Colombia, of which almost 90% are already regularized by Migración Colombia under the Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelans (ETPV),” according to a Migración Colombia report on the situation of migrant children in the country. (press release)
🇧🇷 Brazil
Brazil’s Senate passed a bill—now headed to the Chamber of Deputies—to guarantee access to R$ 400 in monthly social assistance, “(reinforcing) the interpretation of the Supreme Court (STF) that the lack of documentation regularization cannot prevent people in vulnerable situations from accessing social assistance benefits.”
🇨🇱 Chile
InfoMigra sets the record straight on claims about irregular migrants in Chile accessing various social benefits.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Following the tightening of US immigration policy, Tapachula—a city on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala—is now hosting thousands of stranded migrants and asylum seekers living in increasingly precarious conditions. The migrants are unable to continue traveling north, and face a desperate situation due to the complex bureaucratic procedures required to legalize their status,” says MSF, describing the situation on the ground.
And to the north, “Ciudad Juárez becomes a destination for migrants seeking stability in Mexico” (EFE)
“Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers face various barriers to accessing the formal financial system in Mexico,” per a new report that explores both financial inclusion and remittances,” reports EFE.
🇺🇸 United States
“The Trump administration is removing an automatic grace period for immigrants with pending work permit renewals, a move that will force out of the workforce many people stuck in worsening administrative backlogs,” reports Bloomberg Law.
Voters believe the Trump administration has overreached with its aggressive immigration policies, but they don’t necessarily perceive Democrats as offering a viable solution, says Third Way, based on a new poll.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
Hurricane Melissa ripped through the Caribbean last week, affecting Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
In Jamaica, IOM estimates around 30,000 people are displaced, says OCHA.
In Haiti, “over 15,800 people are estimated to be displaced” by the storm, per IOM.
“In Cuba, more than 735,000 people were evacuated on October 28, per a statement made by President Miguel Díaz-Canel,” notes CEDA’s US-Cuba News Brief.
🇦🇷 Argentina
“The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses concern regarding the reforms adopted by Argentina through a series of decrees that modify Law No. 26,165, General Law on the Recognition and Protection of Refugees, and Law No. 25,871 on Migration, as they would limit the effective enjoyment of human rights of people in need of international protection or on the move.” (press release; see AMB 9/22/25)
The Milei administration’s rhetoric and recent policy changes—inlcuding a sweeping reform bill from May—draw parallels to the Trump administration, per Página 12. (for more, paying subscribers can check out AMB 5/19/25)
🇧🇷 Brazil
“Brazil is already facing a silent climate displacement crisis, with millions of people affected by floods, droughts, and forest fires, but it still lacks a specific public policy to address the phenomenon,” according to a new report, notes Diário do Comércio, highlighting, “20 million Brazilians live in areas at high climate risk, and approximately 1.5 million were displaced between 2010 and 2022.” (for more, see last year’s special edition of the AMB on internal displacement, available for all subscribers)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“The 2026 Federal Expenditure Budget (PEF) bill fails to address the urgent need to build an inclusive society that guarantees the rights of people seeking international protection in Mexico, nor does it promote the integration of returned migrants and international migrants. On the contrary, it includes budget cuts to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), while the National Migration Institute (INM) receives an increase of nearly 11%, primarily earmarked for containment and criminalization measures, such as detention in immigration centers and forced transfers by land,” says IMUMI and partners, calling for a budget that “responds to the reality of people in human mobility, and promotes a public policy based on inclusion, the protection of rights and the building of social cohesion, recognizing that more people seek to contribute to public life and the development of the country.”
🇺🇸 United States
Pirate Wire Services details several cases of ICE agents shooting both migrants and US citizens in recent weeks.
And: “ICE’s use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment” (AP)
Church World Service, HIAS, and World Relief critique the Trump administration’s move to reduce refugee resettlement numbers to just 7,500—primarily for white South Africans. “We are seeing our shared creation of hope and welcome devolve into one defined by exclusion,” the organizations’ leaders write at Religion News Service.
“The chances of asylum seekers winning their cases in U.S. immigration courts have plummeted following a ruling that authorizes judges to expedite the dismissal of cases deemed unfounded and the recent imposition of annual fees on petitioners, among other setbacks,” reports EFE
“Threatening to deport your critics, even those with American citizenship, seems to be Maga policy now,” says Arwa Mahdawi at The Guardian, highlighting recent comments by the wife of Stephen Miller, the architect of much of the Trump administration’s immigration policy. “Back in June, the justice department announced plans to prioritize efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their US citizenship.”
“DHS is keeping people for days, weeks, and even months in facilities designed to hold people only for a few hours, violating their own guidelines. Overcrowded and dangerous conditions are common at “holding facilities” that are in practice acting as detention centers.” (The Guardian; via Pirate Wire Services)
“A Look Back at the Family Separation Policy: The Struggle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Trump Administration’s Wrongdoings” (American Immigration Council)
During the Biden administration “it often felt like no one really knew who was in charge of immigration policy, which made getting anything done much harder… Without a senior advisor who had the President’s ear on immigration, decision-making was slow from the start,” writes former administration official Andrea R. Flores at her Substack, explaining, “The deeper we got into the migration emergency, the harder it became to get anyone to agree on asylum reform.”
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, noting that the elevation of Border Patrol agents for ICE operations across the country “(indicates) a likely proliferation of the aggressive tactics that Border Patrol’s participation has brought to immigration operations in Los Angeles and Chicago.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎🇬🇹 Guatemala and Regional
Guatemalan and Ecuadorian officials met to discuss “topics such as the establishment of a labor migration program, the guarantee of labor rights, regulatory frameworks and agreements, among others,” per AGN.
Guatemalan officials additionally met with Mexican officials “to address issues related to migration management and to follow up on upcoming visits of border workers.”
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
“The death of Costa Rican migrant Randall Gamboa Esquivel after being in the custody of US immigration authorities and being deported has sparked controversy in Costa Rica over the treatment he received while detained and the actions of his country’s government,” reports EFE, noting a statement from the Costa Rican government calling for additional information from the US government.
“Former Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Óscar Arias, urged on his social media to ‘raise our voice against the complicit silence of the current Costa Rican government with the current government of the United States of America.’” (EFE)
Gamboa was in a “nearly vegetative state” when he was deported by the US, per Artículo 66.
“Equatorial Guinea says it will cooperate with the US to receive migrants deported by Trump” (EFE)
Panama conducted the 59th deportation flight so far under the MoU cooperation framework with the US originally signed in July 2024. The US additionally has just donated vehicles for enforcement activities by Panama’s National Migration Service. (EFE)
Immigration is entwined with foreign policy, writes Gerasimos Tsourapas for Niskanen, highlighting the deportation of South Koreans following a Hyundai plant raid earlier this year as a flashpoint. Tsourapas argues, “Washington should move toward institutionalized bilateral frameworks with key partners. Structured agreements with South Korea, Mexico, and other major labor-sending or investment partners allow disputes to be managed through regular channels rather than emergency diplomacy… immigration enforcement should be calibrated to foreign policy goals. Of course, law enforcement is important, but raids that create big alliance costs should be thought of more carefully in relation to the wider strategic consequences. A more coherent approach should try to connect enforcement priorities with industrial strategy and alliance management, instead of always seeing them as completely separate.”
🇨🇷🇵🇦 Panama and Costa Rica
Panamanian and Costa Rican officials met to discuss migration and the progress of shared labor mobility and cooperation mechanisms. (Eco)
🇪🇸🇵🇾 Paraguay and Spain
Paraguayan and Spanish officials are working on mechanisms to implement a recent MoU to facilitate temporary labor migration, “including the methods to begin the process of selecting and communicating Paraguayan job profiles that will be needed in the Spanish market,” per a press release. (see AMB 7/28/25)
Labor Migration
🇧🇷 Brazil
A public hearing in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies considered the importance of the country crafting specific regulations for seasonal labor migrants, reports MigraMundo, highlighting comments that “the legal limbo situation of seasonal migrant workers leaves them subject to vulnerabilities such as forced labor.”
🇺🇸 United States
Milken Institute Review examines the critical shortage of healthcare workers in the US and the opportunity that labor migration presents, outlining reform opportunities.
🇧🇲 Bermuda
“The Bermuda Department of Immigration has published a new Work Permit Policy, effective November 1, 2025, that introduces several key procedural and compliance changes for employers and foreign nationals… the government will introduce enhanced documentation obligations, including expanded police certificate and English language requirements, alongside stricter internal advertising requirements for promotions and some standardized processing timelines,” explains Fragomen.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
In the first three quarters of 2025, Panama has recorded just over 18,000 migrants individuals transiting south, mainly Venezuelan migrants reporting they intend to return to their home country. (UNHCR)
“Irregular southbound movement from Colombia to Ecuador and further to Peru has increased, particularly among Venezuelan refugees and migrants,” according to R4V’s movements report for the second quarter of 2025.
El País highlights the increase in Latin American student migration to Spain for study.
Borders and Enforcement
🇨🇱 Chile
“José Antonio Kast, Chile’s far-right presidential frontrunner, says that, if elected, he would force expelled migrants to pay for their own deportation,” reports BA Times. Bloomberg adds that he hopes to pressure migrants to “self-deport,” and that “any undocumented foreigner detained during his eventual administration would not be allowed to re-enter Chile. His team is promoting a plan that includes the use of technology such as sensors, fences, and cameras to strengthen border security. He also hopes to cooperate more closely with neighboring governments such as Bolivia and Argentina on immigration issues.” (see last week’s AMB)
Mass deportations in Chile are administratively “impossible,” academic Ximena Póo told RadioUChile.
🇺🇸 United States
MPI investigates how enforcement has evolved this past year, noting that the Trump administration is on track for around 600,000 deportations by end of year, “well off the Trump administration’s pledge of carrying out 1 million deportations per year.”
The Trump administration’s shakeup in ICE leadership may increase arrests but is unlikely to increase deportation numbers, reports Politico.
The Trump administration claims that 1.6 million migrants have “self-deported.” (ABC)
DHS “is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement aimed at getting the centers built faster,” reports CNN.
DHS is vastly expanding biometric data collection for noncitizen travelers and both migrants and citizens involved in immigration processes, reports Migrant Insider. (1, 2)
“ICE has increasingly relied on technology to facilitate mass deportations during the current immigration enforcement surge,” explains Austin Kocher at his Substack, drawing parallels to “digital authoritarianism” in states such as China.
Great roundup. Some really important reports to be aware of if you’re doing country conditions work for asylum, especially the document on reintegration of people returning to Honduras.