Americas Migration Brief - July 6, 2026
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎Regional
“Spain’s extraordinary regularization in 2026 could provide legal status to a record number of irregular migrants. Nearly 1.2 million people applied by the June 30 deadline, more than double the government’s original expectation of around 500,000, and two-thirds of applicants were from South or Central America. Yet even as Spain is advancing regularization, similar initiatives that were launched in Latin America to address the vast displacement from Venezuela that began in 2015 have ended or been closed to new entrants,” says MPI.
🇲🇽 Mexico
Outgoing IOM chief in Mexico Dana Graber Ladek “warns about the need to expand, with temporary programs, the regularization options for migrants, since thousands of them remain in “limbo” even though they have been in Mexican territory for months, and even years, and seek to contribute to society,” reports La Jornada.
🇦🇷 Argentina
Argentina’s National Electoral Chamber declared null an executive decree by the Milei administration “that sought to limit the granting of Argentine citizenship to foreigners and that would have placed this decision, previously in the hands of the judiciary, at the discretion of the Executive branch. The court warned the far-right leader that he had exceeded his authority and taken measures expressly prohibited by the Constitution,” per El País.
“The ruling, issued this Tuesday, overturned an emergency decree signed by Milei in May of last year… Milei’s Decree 366 aimed to tighten immigration controls, establish stricter requirements for the entry and stay in the country of foreigners with criminal records, and, among other things, limit free access to health and education services for people without permanent residency. The decree also stipulated that the federal courts would lose their authority to grant Argentine citizenship and that this power would be transferred to the National Directorate of Migration, an agency under the Executive branch.”
🇺🇸 United States
“A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. By a 6-3 vote, the court struck down Trump’s order. A bare majority of five justices, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, makes a citizen of anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions,” reports AP.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎Regional
Following a pair of earthquakes last month in Venezuela (see last week’s AMB), “According to official estimates from Venezuela’s government, more than 15,000 people have been displaced nationwide… All figures released so far are likely underestimates,” reports Folha. “According to official figures, more than 17,300 people were left homeless, of whom 10,702 are currently housed in 79 temporary camps. Groups of those affected have been displaced from La Guaira to other regions that did not suffer considerable damage,” says EFE.
“More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble,” reports AP. Following the tragedy, the Venezuelan government “restricted access to the facility for days” and the SEBIN agency allegedly made “threats to silence survivors,” according to Caracas Chronicles.
Following the earthquakes, Chile’s Kast government “has announced that it will authorize the legal departure from the country, for humanitarian reasons, of Venezuelan citizens residing in Chile whose passports have expired,” reports El País. However, this says nothing of said migrants’ ability to enter Peru or Bolivia if heading north by land.
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Last month, Colombia passed a landmark law that formally recognizes displacement caused by climate change, environmental degradation, and natural disasters as a distinct legal and humanitarian category. It is the first law of its kind in Latin America and one of the first nationally binding frameworks of its kind anywhere in the world. This is a big deal,” write Liliana Gamboa and Kayly Ober for the Carnegie Endowment. (see AMB 6/15/26)
“Two features stand out. First, people don’t have to wait until they’ve already fled: They can be registered before, during, or after displacement. This makes the law anticipatory rather than purely reactive. Second, the registry includes a dedicated section for the collective lands of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, meant to capture their particular ties to territory and the distinct ways displacement affects them.”
“The law, while groundbreaking, faces an uphill battle. Its guarantees are promised “progressively” rather than immediately, which gives the state room to move slowly. And much of what will determine success has been left for later: the criteria defining who qualifies, the registry itself, and the national prevention policy. Each depends on money, coordination between national and local government, and political will.”
🇨🇱 Chile
Following controversy over “missing” Haitian migrant children last month in Chile (see last week’s AMB), the Kast administration announced the adoption in May of “a new protocol for the entry of minors into the country when they were not accompanied by their parents,” explains InfoMigra; “in the case of family reunification applications, it will now be necessary to also attach the background information of the person who is transferring the child or adolescent, and specify where they will arrive and with whom they will be during the first months.”
“Although the most extreme speculations proved unfounded, ‘the emotional damage has already been done,’ said David Antoine, a father of three who emigrated to Chile from Haiti in 2014. Many Haitians were frightened when the police knocked on their doors looking for the missing children, said Antoine, who works as a human rights advocate.” (Bloomberg)
Revista Común highlights family separations at Chile’s northern border: “Family separation as a technology of disincentivizing, controlling, and punishing migrant populations has intensified since Kast came to power; however, its use is not new. On the contrary, it has been a central element of migration and border control in Chile, particularly in the context of the surge in migration to the country since 2020.”
🇬🇹 Guatemala
“Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced Friday the creation of a humanitarian mechanism to undertake, for the first time, the search for people who disappeared during the past internal armed conflict, as well as those who disappeared as a result of migration or for other reasons,” reports AP.
🇲🇽 Mexico
A UNAM book examines internal displacement in Mexico.
🇺🇸 United States
“A group of migrants seeking US asylum or visas is suing over a new Trump administration policy requiring them to wear tracking monitors as an alternative to detention, claiming the measure is causing unnecessary harm to people trying to remain in the country legally. As a result of the new rule, the number of released migrants wearing electronic ankle and wrist bracelets has surged from about 23,000 in late 2024 to almost 50,000 now,” reports Bloomberg, explaining, “Previously, devices were used only in special cases where escalated supervision was necessary.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
“Antigua and Barbuda: Prime Minister Gaston Browne has said that recent U.S. visa restrictions were intended to pressure Antigua and Barbuda into accepting third-country nationals under a proposed resettlement agreement,” reports Writeups 24, noting ongoing negotiations. (see last week’s AMB, AMBs 2/2/26 and 12/29/25)
Costa Rica has conducted a second deportation flight “under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that allows resources to be transferred to Costa Rica to help move people who are subject to deportation,” per Tico Times. 26 individuals were deported to Colombia and Ecuador.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Brazil presented to the OECD Working Group on Migration the country’s advances in the development of the National Policy on Migration, Refugees and Statelessness, per a press release. Recent public consultations generated 431 proposals for consideration, reports MigraMundo.
Labor Migration
🇺🇸 United States
“America’s immigrant tech workers are paying an uncertainty tax: A court struck down Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee. But many foreign workers say years of shifting immigration rules have already pushed them to consider Canada, the U.K., and the Gulf.” (Rest of World)
Migrants in Transit
🌎Regional
Barbados has received 776 migrants from Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the four countries’ full free movement regime within CARICOM. (CNW)
“Comissiong said there have been no reported issues with the initiative since its launch and indicated that regional stakeholders are expected to be brought together for a comprehensive review of the program in the coming months.”
Borders and Enforcement
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
An INM report examines the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti, enforcement efforts, and policy recommendations. Findings include 16 irregular entry channels along the border and that approximately 2,000 Haitian migrants cross daily at Pedernales to work, per Por La Línea.
🇺🇸 United States
“Federal immigration officials have detained more than 10,000 people in the last five days, a major surge that has stemmed from a push within Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase arrest rates,” reports New York Times, adding, “One of the officials said that it was unclear how long the pace could continue, but that ICE officials had been told that 2,000 arrests a day was the new standard for enforcement. The surge has occurred without the fanfare of highly visible operations last year, in which officials announced their intentions ahead of time to target cities.”
“A new Mississippi law will authorize the state’s top law enforcement agency to compile a list of all immigrants illegally living in the state. What’s to be done with that information is a bit open-ended… The measure neither requires nor prohibits the database from being shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” reports AP.
🇵🇦 Panama
“Panama has eliminated the visa requirement for nationals of the Dominican Republic traveling for tourism or business,” notes Fragomen.