Americas Migration Brief - March 23, 2026
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.
Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🇨🇱 Chile
“The government of Chile’s new president, the far-right José Antonio Kast, assured on Tuesday that it will not eliminate access to education or healthcare for irregular migrants, despite promoting reforms to toughen immigration policy and criminalize irregular entry into the country,” reports EFE. (see last week’s AMB)
🇵🇦 Panama
The Mulino government signed an executive decree that “extends for one year the deadline for undocumented immigrants to apply for humanitarian protection,” reports La Estrella de Panamá, outlining the pathway from temporary protection to a six-year extension to permanent residency.
🇬🇹 Guatemala
“The elimination of tax clearance as an administrative requirement marks a significant shift in policy toward Guatemalans returning to the country, reinforcing the authorities’ commitment to ensuring a more agile and effective economic and social reintegration for those who return. The Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) and the Tax Administration Superintendency (SAT) formalized the measure in June 2025 as part of the official “ Return Home Plan “ strategy,” reports Infobae.
🇦🇷 Argentina
A CAREF report examines birth certificate registration procedures in Argentina and challenges faced by migrant families.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎Regional
“Analysis of public policies on the prevention, care and eradication of gender-based violence against women in contexts of human mobility in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico” (IMUMI)
Spain has resettled over 1,400 Nicaraguan refugees since 2023, including 48 earlier this month from Costa Rica. (Confidencial)
🇭🇹 Haiti
“Violence and instability in Haiti have displaced more than 1.45 million people, approaching levels seen after the 2010 earthquake, according to the latest Displacement Tracking Matrix report. Displacement is concentrated in Port-au-Prince but is also rising in the departments of Centre, Grand Nord and Artibonite, further straining already fragile local services. While over 197,000 people live in overcrowded displacement sites throughout the country, most displaced persons are hosted by families, which are already living under immense pressure,” notes IOM.
🇧🇷 Brazil
“After more than 70 killed in Brazil landslides, scientists warn deadly downpours will worsen with further warming: Record rainfall exposes failures in urban planning and also threatens the region’s vital coffee industry” (WWF press release and study; see AMB 3/9/26)
“The Washington Post reports on the slavery conditions at a BYD factory in Brazil, a case that offers “a rare glimpse into labor practices that advocates and scholars say Chinese firms often impose on migrant workers in far-flung locations, but which are normally obscured by patchy law enforcement, corporate secrecy, cultural misunderstanding, byzantine employment structures — and fear of Beijing’s rising power.”” (via Latin America Daily Briefing)
A coalition of civil society members have published a public letter to the Brazilian government outlining concerns surrounding migration policy, including “Barriers created since 2024 to allow for the increasing weakening of the right to seek refuge,” such as restricting access for airport arrivals. (MigraMundo)
🇺🇾 Uruguay
The NGO Idas y Vueltas expresses concerns about delays for the over 30,000 asylum seekers awaiting a definite decision on their case, reports Diario La R, highlighting additional concerns about family reunification delays for those in the backlog.
🇧🇿 Belize
Belize’s government is undertaking a new initiative with the support of UNHCR and Japan to modernize the country’s asylum system, including “the rollout of a secure digital system to manage asylum cases,” per CNW. (see also LoveFM)
🇨🇼 Curaçao
A criminal network has been convicted for exploiting Venezuelan women at a Curaçao nightclub, reports Crónicas del Caribe.
🇺🇸 United States
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in April, report Zoe Sobel and Nina Totenberg of NPR. In the meantime, it is preventing the administration from deporting about 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians currently here lawfully with TPS. The court is expediting arguments on questions surrounding TPS rather than letting challenges unfold in lower courts first. A decision is likely by the end of June,” notes National Immigration Forum’s The Forum Daily.
Relatedly, see an American Immigration Council fact sheet on TPS, including what nationalities have, and have had, the status.
Last week marked the 13th death of an immigrant in detention this year—and the 42nd under the second Trump administration—with detention deaths “occurring about once every four days,” per Austin Kocher at his Substack. Kocher writes, “I am simply asking Congress to take seriously the death of people in ICE’s care and custody. ICE is an agency for which Congress is obligated to provide accountability and oversight, particularly when that agency is unable or unwilling to police itself—such as now.”
“The circumstances of many of the record number of deaths in US immigration custody under the second Trump administration have left loved ones often searching in vain for answers amid a lack of transparency over key investigations,” reports The Guardian.
“After rookie ICE agent’s paperwork error, man is detained for days: The new officer completed a basic training program that provided a third of the hours once dedicated to teaching recruits how to fill out a key form.” (Washington Post)
“The number of children being held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined dramatically in recent weeks, as the Trump administration scaled back some of its most aggressive immigration enforcement tactics… While some families were deported, others have been released back into the country. As of this week, 53 children and 49 parents were being held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the federal government’s only detention center for families,” reports New York Times.
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments next week over a policy that turns asylum seekers away at the U.S.-Mexico border, reports Safia Samee Ali of NewsNation. So-called metering limits daily border crossings, with some migrants having experienced unsafe conditions in Mexico, she reports. At issue is whether a migrant who encounters a U.S. border official on the Mexican side of the border has “arrived” in the U.S.” (via The Forum Daily)
“Government Defrauds Legal Immigrants and US Sponsors Who Paid $1 Billion in Fees: The US government is taking fees from immigrants and US sponsors for services that it has no plans to provide. The government took their money, and now it won’t even adjudicate their applications—in many cases, it refuses even to issue denials. The State Department is actually telling consular officers not to notify future applicants that the government has banned them,” says the Cato Institute.
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Border Update, noting, “It has now been a year since the Trump administration gutted internal oversight offices at DHS, making accountability more difficult to achieve. Regular reporting of data from DHS has declined sharply.” (see also a related WOLA-Kino Border Initiative report)
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎🇨🇱 Chile and Regional
Recently inaugurated Chilean president José Antonio Kast’s purported “humanitarian corridor” proposal in coordination with regional governments may in truth conceal planned mass deportations, rather than voluntary returns, writes Txomin Las Heras Leizaola at El Espectador. (see last week’s AMB)
The foreign ministers of Chile and Bolivia are set to meet to discuss migration, among other issues. (ABI)
“The government of Rodrigo Paz respects, “under the principle of good faith, the decisions on border security made by Chile, but Bolivia will also soon announce measures related to border security and control that we hope will be respected,” reported Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo.” (EJU)
As Kast pursues a restrictionist agenda, “a migratory flow toward northern Chile is highly likely, with the intention of leaving the country via Peru. What will the Peruvian government’s strategy be? This situation requires anticipation and demands agreements. We are facing a regional problem, not just one affecting Chile and Peru. The experience of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry will be crucial in preventing migrants from becoming trapped between two militarized borders,” says Santiago Pedraglio at El Comercio.
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
Business Insider highlights that dozens of migrants from other, third countries deported by the US to Equatorial Guinea are now “stranded,” as the African country has “no formal asylum system.”
LA Times looks at a similar issue for those from other countries deported to Mexico, noting, “Human rights advocates say Mexican officials rarely inform deportees of their right to seek asylum in the country. They also say Mexico has clearly violated the principle of “non-refoulement,” which holds that governments should not send people to places where they may face persecution.”
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that unlike other countries accepting third-country deportees, her nation has not signed a formal agreement to take immigrants from the U.S. The people her country has so far accepted, she said, were welcomed for “humanitarian” reasons.”
“Honduran President Nasry Asfura held a high-level meeting this Sunday with the special envoy of the United States government, Kristi Noem, at the Presidential Palace, where they discussed issues related to security, migration and economic cooperation.” (El Heraldo)
🇨🇺🇨🇷 Costa Rica and Cuba
Costa Rica and Cuba have broken diplomatic ties and are withdrawing embassy personnel; Costa Rican officials assure that Cuban asylum seekers may still undergo migration processes, per Monumental.
🇪🇺🇪🇨 Ecuador and European Union
Ecuador and the EU signed a “Declaration of Intent on migration management and border control.” (press release)
🇩🇪🇬🇹 Guatemala and Germany
German and Guatemalan officials met, discussing potential opportunities for labor migration pathways, among other topics. (Infobae)
🇨🇴 Colombia
The Colombian government has established a working group on Migration and Health and adopted a “Health Care Plan for Migrants, Refugees, Returnees, and Host Communities, 2025–2031.” (ConsultorSalud)
Labor Migration
🇪🇸🌎Regional and Spain
A first, pilot group of 45 Paraguayan migrants are off to Spain to work in the agricultural sector as part of a temporary labor migration program between the two countries. (EFE, EFE)
A World Bank technical report evaluates the implementation of a 2001 Colombia-Spain labor migration agreement. The report examines implementation in 2023 and 2024 as an input to development of Global Skills Partnerships between Spain and Colombia, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic.
🇺🇸 United States
“A bipartisan bill introduced in the House on Tuesday would waive the $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas for foreign health care professionals seeking to work in the United States,” reports New York Times.
“Grabowski, Gruber and McGarry 2026 estimates that each additional immigrant health worker in the US prevents 0.07 deaths per year, though this may be higher than in other contexts because immigrant health workers appear to be of higher quality than US-trained physicians,” notes Lauren Gilbert at her Substack.
“To Address Farm Labor Shortage, Trump Administration Turns to Migrant Workers: As the president’s immigration policies squeeze an already tight supply of farm labor, the Trump administration is making it cheaper to hire foreign farmworkers” with an H-2A visa, notes New York Times.
Migrants in Transit
🌎Regional
IOM analyzes DTM data on Cuban migration dynamics since January 2025, noting, “South America is gaining importance, particularly Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil as entry points, as well as Brazil and Uruguay as settlement points. Settlement trends are strengthening, with Costa Rica, Brazil and Uruguay emerging as key hubs where Cubans show a strong intent to remain.”
🇨🇴 Colombia
Nationally representative online surveys of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia reveal that a growing, but still limited, number of Venezuelans are interested in returning home. Even still, this interest has not manifested in any changing migration trends. (3iS and Foro ONG Humanitarias)
Borders and Enforcement
🇦🇷 Argentina
The New York Times outlines a recent case in which “Hundreds of law enforcement agents descended on shops, cafes and malls, demanding documents, checking legal statuses and detaining people in new sweeping raids conducted by Argentine authorities who have taken a tougher stance on immigration… under President Javier Milei, a right-wing libertarian, the government is joining a global trend cracking down on immigration, and is publicizing its shift with an aggressive enforcement messaging similar to that employed by the Trump administration. Critics call it an unnecessary and dangerous political gimmick… In Liniers, the police identified 615 migrants, of which, they said, only 15 did not have legal status.”
“Mr. Milei has introduced tougher immigration measures, including imposing stricter criteria for migrants to earn permanent residency and making it easier for the government to deport those accused of committing crimes. The government shifted the role of overseeing immigration from the interior to the security ministry, effectively making migration a law enforcement issue with an emphasis on border control.”
Former UN independent expert Pablo Ceriani warns on LinkedIn that Argentina’s Minister of National Security is calling for citizens to report irregular migrants to the authorities, noting that the state has “(failed) to fulfill its obligation to facilitate access to regular residency as established in Law 25.871.”
🇨🇱 Chile
“Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Monday [the 16th] launched the border control works he had promised during the campaign… Reports published on March 16 and 17 said the intervention began near the Chacalluta crossing on the Peruvian border and is part of a broader plan that also covers the regions of Tarapacá and Antofagasta, including the Colchane area on the border with Bolivia,” reports MercoPress, noting, “Kast’s move comes even as irregular entries had already been falling before he took office.” (see also El Mostrador, last week’s AMB)
The Kast government has begun constructing a 5-meter wall along Chile’s border with Peru. (ATV)
🇺🇸 United States
Migrant Insider highlights the role of lobbyists helping advance the expansion of the private immigration detention industry.
“A $915 million program incentivizing “self-deportation” has helped 72,000 people leave, report Audrey Ash and Priscilla Alvarez of CNN. The administration says 2.2 million people have self-deported, but an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document cites the lower figure specifically from “Project Homecoming” — and notes that most who took advantage already had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigrants who leave voluntarily may still be subject to penalties, as we’ve noted,” says The Forum Daily.
“The Trump administration likes to promote its immigration enforcement agenda through numbers, with ambitious goals to deport 1 million people, report zero releases at the U.S.-Mexico border and arrest thousands of alleged gang members. For all the boasting, the administration has been releasing less reliable, carefully vetted data than its predecessors,” reports AP.
“Since last April, about 4,700 people charged with entering the country illegally also have been given a misdemeanor count of trespassing on military property, reports a team with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. The legal strategy from the Trump administration is straining courts, the team reports.” (via The Forum Daily)
“ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony: Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’” (The Guardian)