Americas Migration Brief - April 15, 2024
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🇨🇴 Colombia
“The Foreign Minister of Colombia, Luis Gilberto Murillo, announced from the United States that 250,000 special work visas will be delivered for irregular migrants in the national territory, with the aim of integrating them into Colombian society,” reports El Espectador.
A Nutrients paper exploring food insecurity and material hardships among Venezuelan migrants in Colombian cities found four unique profiles: “Class 1—low food insecurity and material hardship; Class 2—high food insecurity and material hardship; Class 3—high income hardship with insufficient food intake; and Class 4—income hardship with food affordability challenges. Class 2 reflected the most severe food insecurity and material hardships and had the highest class membership; Venezuelans with an irregular migration status were almost 1.5 times more likely to belong to this class.”
A Universidad del Rosario report explores the development opportunity of migrant integration, highlighting the role of cities and local governments such as Medellín and Bogotá.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“A growing number of Haitians, dreaming of a better future, make their home in Mexico City: More than 44,000 refugees from the Caribbean country requested asylum in Mexico in 2023. Many of them have found employment in the food industry and in the large markets of the capital” (El País)
🇨🇱 Chile
A Cadem poll finds that “70% believe that there is currently a major conflict between Chileans and immigrants,” reports La Tercera, adding that “while 67% are in favor of completely closing the borders,” this is 11 percentage points fewer than in March, when 78% of those surveyed favored closing the border.
InfoMigra highlights the details behind the proposed title validation policy in Chile.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Cindy Regidor explores at Confidencial the issue of xenophobia against Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, additionally highlighting their important role in the economy and calling for “a massive legalization of status so that authorities could have an exact and complete record of who lives in the country.”
🇵🇪 Peru
A World Council report explores the labor inclusion of Venezuelan migrants in Peru.
🇨🇦 Canada
A Comparative Migration Studies paper finds that Canada (and Norway) “have adopted domestic immigration policies that produce permanently precarious residents” through the adoption of “stricter/less predictable requirements for permanent residence and citizenship,” among other policies. (via Forced Migration Current Awareness)
🇺🇸 United States
Fiscal year 2024 appropriations include a $150 million budget cut for the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) which “allows states and localities to recuperate some of the costs they sustain in providing services, such as shelter and medical care, to migrants… In the absence of federal support, cities are now being forced to limit their aid to new arrivals,” says Immigration Impact. (see also CNN)
“Parole in place provides relief from deportation and offers authorization to work for certain undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Approximately 1.1 million undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens could be eligible to adjust to a legal status, but they face barriers in the existing immigration system. The Biden administration could expand access to existing parole in place processes to help more than one million long-term U.S. residents secure protections from deportation, and gain work authorization and a pathway to legal status,” says Fwd.us.
Reuters reviews the data and research showing that immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes than non-immigrants.
MPI highlights the growing South American population in the US.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
An IOM report explores protection risks along the “most dangerous” migration routes through Central America and Mexico, spanning Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
“A 14-year-old Haitian minor was allegedly raped by an agent of the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) of the Dominican Republic, in the middle of an operation against undocumented immigrants in the town of Verón,” reports El Nuevo Diario; authorities are now investigating the case.
“The Antigua Orden Dominicana (AOD) is an ultraright-wing, neofascist paramilitary group… Over the past decade, AOD members—often while the Dominican national police look away—have regularly disrupted marches and vigils organized by feminist and antiracist groups to denounce human rights violations against Black Haitian migrants and dark-skinned Black Dominicans, women, and LGBTQIA+ communities,” says NACLA, adding, “As the Dominican Republic gears up for the 2024 presidential elections, the scapegoating of Haiti, Haitian migrants, and their descendants is expected to rise.”
🇧🇷 Brazil
20 suspected Haitian migrants were found dead on a boat off the coast in northern Brazil, reports UOL.
Brazil is moving to facilitate legal residency for migrants who are “victims of human trafficking, work analogous to slavery, or aggravated violation of rights due to their migratory status,” reports MigraMundo.
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Venezuelan migrants are no longer required to renounce their Temporary Protection Permit (PPT) to begin their refugee application, according to a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court of Colombia,” reports El Nacional.
There is no humanitarian aid along the migration corridor between Cúcuta and Bucaramanga, traversed by many Venezuelans in Colombia, reports BluRadio, citing an investigation by the delegate attorney for Human Rights.
🇸🇻 El Salvador
El Salvador is building an office for the Commission for the Determination of the Condition of Refugees (Coder), which will process asylum applications in the country, reports El Mundo.
🇺🇸 United States
The US has extended and redesignated TPS for Ethiopians, benefitting “an estimated 12,800 additional Ethiopian nationals.” (press release)
The Border Chronicle interviews No More Deaths about their recent report on migrant deaths in the El Paso, New Mexico border region, finding that restrictive asylum policies have pushed people to take more dangerous treks through the desert. (see AMB 3/25/24)
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, explaining that “Migration continues to experience an unusual springtime lull across the U.S.-Mexico border, with numbers appearing to decline below January-March levels” and that “Numbers of migrants are higher in Panama and Honduras than they were last year, but are not increasing.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
“Unfortunately, at this moment, Haitian migrants/refugees have nowhere to go in Caricom,” says an op-ed at Demerara Waves calling for Guyana to take leadership in Caricom and push the regional bloc to adopt a more proactive response to Haitian displacement.
Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru signed an agreement creating the Migratory Alerts Network to improve migration-information sharing following a regional meeting in Lima with several other countries. (press release)
“The Netherlands is actively collaborating with local organizations and NGOs in Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten to provide technical assistance in the refugee dossier,” reports Curaçao Chronicle.
🇩🇴🇨🇷 Costa Rica and Dominican Republic
Costa Rican and Dominican officials discussed migration, among other issues, at the 3rd Policy Consultation Meeting.
(El Mundo)
🇨🇴🇺🇸 United States and Colombia
US and Colombian officials met to discuss migration, among other issues. (press release)
🇨🇳🇺🇸 United States and China
“The U.S. is conducting high-level discussions with China aimed at increasing the number of Chinese nationals deported from the United States… China has long been uncooperative with U.S. efforts to deport Chinese citizens,” reports NBC.
Labor Migration
🇨🇱 Chile
Some Argentine health care workers are temporarily migrating to Chile for work, attracted by higher salaries, reports El País, noting that cases fly under the radar because they are typically so short-term and are concentrated in the private sector.
🇧🇿 Belize
Migrants moving to Belize for work are increasingly doing so with legal work permits, reports LoveFM, highlighting a dependence on foreign labor in the agricultural and construction sectors.
🇯🇲 Jamaica
“Steep rise in schools in England recruiting teachers from Jamaica” (The Guardian)
Migrants in Transit
🇲🇽 Mexico
“An increasing number of migrants are now staying put for long periods in Mexico City as they attempt to get their legal situations sorted out prior to risking crossing the U.S.–Mexico border,” reports Detroit Catholic, highlighting the informal job opportunities and safety Mexico City provides as migrants wait to get CBP One appointments.
🇨🇦 Canada
An increasing number of Indians are looking to enter the US through Canada, reports VOA, highlighting the use of student visas.
🇸🇻 El Salvador
“The Central American online outlet Expediente Público looked at a non-governmental study examining why citizens of El Salvador continue to migrate in large numbers despite reduced insecurity and a popular, if authoritarian-trending, president. The reasons remain the same as before Nayib Bukele’s presidency: violence in society and economic need. El Salvador has been the number-four nationality of migrants seeking asylum in Mexico’s system in 2023 and so far in 2024.” (via WOLA)
🇵🇦 Panama
A Red Cross report looks at migration scenarios in Panama City in 2024. (LinkedIn)
Borders and Enforcement
🌎 Regional
“Over 200 migrants were detained in separate sea operations by the Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and Bahamian Defence Force,” reports Loop, noting that the Bahamas is maintaining its naval blockade to halt migrants.
The US Coast Guard also repatriated over 100 migrants last week, notes the St. Lucia Times, while a Coast Guard press release reviews their continued efforts “to prevent irregular, unlawful maritime migration” to the US.
🇲🇽 Mexico
Increased patrols and efforts by Mexican authorities have helped slow migration to the US, reports CNN, noting, “Increased patrols are visible on the Mexican side of the border wall both in urban, congested areas of Tijuana, and inland, amid the scrub and boulders of Ejido Jacumé.”
Milenio highlights efforts by Mexican authorities to halt northbound migration by train from the north-central state of Durango.
🇺🇸 United States
The Biden administration is still “exploring whether he has the authority to shut down the southern border without authorization from Congress,” reports Axios, citing a Univision interview
Any use of the oft-cited 212(f) section of the INA would be ineffective in practice and “almost certainly unlawful and likely to be struck down in court, as Trump's was,” says American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on Twitter.
Iowa has passed and signed and Louisiana is advancing copy-cat bills modeled after Texas’ SB4, a state law currently blocked and under review by the courts that aims to criminalize migration. These bills have been highly criticized as discriminatory and fueling xenophobia and have been contested as unconstitutional by the Biden administration. Local law enforcement have also indicated in some cases that they do not have the capacity to implement such laws. (CBS, AP, Des Moines Register)
“The Texas Military Department is constructing a massive new “Forward Operating Base” outside of the border community of Eagle Pass to house up to 1,800 national guard members. The base is part of the state’s multibillion-dollar anti-migrant program, Operation Lone Star,” reports Human Rights Watch, adding, “While there is no evidence Operation Lone Star has slowed migration, the program has led to injuries and deaths… (and) violations of the rights of migrants and US citizens.”
Niskanen Center’s Gil Guerra critiques on Twitter claims that China is sending operatives to the US southern border to seek asylum, explaining, for example, that “these supposed ‘spies’ present themselves to the US government and give us their biometric data,” a great deterrent to any such operation.
🇧🇷 Brazil
A Brazilian Federal Police operation took down a 2+ million USD network that produced fake documents for Brazilians attempting to migrate to the US, reports Terra.
🇵🇪 Peru
Peru has reversed its decision to impose visa restrictions on Mexico, reinstating visa-free travel for Mexicans. (Fragomen; see last week’s AMB)
More on Migration
🇭🇹 Haiti
An Inter-American Dialogue report explores remittances to Haiti amid “a collapsed state.”