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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
A REMHU paper examines differences in the access to health care for Venezuelan migrants in Argentina and Chile.
🇨🇱 Chile
Haitian migrants in Chile are having trouble regularizing their status and conducting immigration procedures due to difficulties obtaining a clean criminal record certificate from the Haitian government; hundreds protested in Santiago outside their home country’s embassy last week. (El País)
Ministry of Education ordinances obtained by InfoMigra confirm that migrant children without documentation looking to enroll in the Chilean education system must register with the Civil Registry and Identification Service.
The Kast administration’s migration policy criminalizes irregular migrants and makes them out as suspect, says Leonardo Polloni in an interview with El Ciudadano.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
“An opposition lawmaker is promoting a reform to streamline immigration procedures for migrants living in Costa Rica and facilitate their full social integration. The bill is currently in the consultation phase and will soon be submitted to the Legislative Assembly’s board of directors for further parliamentary consideration,” reports La Prensa, explaining that the bill aims to address processing backlogs, create an inter-institutional coordination body titled the National Migration Council, and promote migrant integration.
“The Ombudsman’s Office concluded an investigation that revealed a structural crisis in the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME), a situation that causes a significant delay in the resolution of immigration procedures and directly affects the rights of migrants in Costa Rica,” reports El Mundo. This includes “about 25 officials (that) have a workload of approximately 1,500 pending cases each.”
Delfino highlights long delays in refugee status applications in Costa Rica, which additionally impact access to (formal) job opportunities and health care.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“55.5 percent of migrants in general do not have financial integration and are rejected by banks, 25 percent of school-age children and youth do not have access to education, almost 50 percent have suffered discrimination when trying to seek health services, and 5 percent are denied the possibility of renting housing,” reports La Jornada, citing a RacismoMX report exploring the integration of migrants, the displaced, and returnees.
🇦🇼 Aruba
Aruba’s Together for Progress temporary regularization program granted around 1,500 beneficiaries a one-year permit with the intention to facilitate “an opportunity to enter the formal labor market, secure an employer, and, within the provided period, transition to the regular permit process.” The first batch of permits granted are set to expire in October as the Aruban government pushes to connect jobseekers with employers. (EA News)
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Migration Management in Colombia: Perspectives, Approaches and Legacies (2022-2026)” (a Migración Colombia report)
🇺🇸 United States
Although refugees economic outcomes improve over time, “From 2016 to 2018, two-thirds to three-quarters of refugees who had been resettled in the United States within the previous five years had incomes below the federal poverty level,” notes a feature at MPI’s Migration Information Source; “Unrecognized credentials, limited proficiency with English, high cost of transportation, and limited child care have constrained upward mobility.”
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🇨🇴 Colombia
A report by NGO Corporación Mujer Denuncia y Muévete “reveals how survival prostitution and the control exerted by armed groups have transformed migrant vulnerability into a criminal enterprise and a tool for territorial domination in the region,” focusing on the Colombia-Venezuela border region.
🇲🇽 Mexico
An IMUMI report calls for better data on gender identity and sexual orientation for migrants in Mexico so as to improve protection of their rights.
🇭🇹 Haiti
CNN highlights challenges faced in the northern Haitian city of Cap-Haïtien, which has received high levels of both internally displaced persons and deportees, as insecurity is rampant in the country and the city faces an overwhelmed health care sector and a lack of housing.
“The U.S. deported more than 160 people to Haiti on Thursday for the first time since the Trump administration won a legal battle to end Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians,” notes CBS.
🇺🇸 United States
TPS for over 5,000 Ethiopian beneficiaries is set to end after a judge’s ruling. (Reuters)
“A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration ban on issuing immigrant visas to people from 75 countries, saying the policy violated federal immigration law by discriminating on the basis of nationality,” reports NPR.
ICE detention oversight is granting high marks on health and safety to facilities despite mounting deaths, reveals a POGO report: “It’s part of a nationwide system set up in a way that ensures most ICE detention facilities stay open, no matter how bad the conditions.”
The grievance system in immigration detention “barely operates and even at times backfires for those using it. It is one of the few remaining safeguards for immigrants in federal custody after the Trump administration effectively dismantled other oversight offices,” says NPR.
“A federal judge this week found that officials at immigration detention centers in Texas and California had likely housed children and other detainees at unsafe temperatures and had denied them soap and adequate sleeping conditions,” reports New York Times, noting that the judge appointed an independent monitor for oversight.
As the Trump administration has put unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings increasingly without legal representation, “A 1-year-old baby appeared in immigration court without legal representation this week in Arizona and received an instruction: File an asylum application before the next hearing or face deportation.” (Notus)
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Border Update, noting, “The Trump administration is moving ahead with a plan to collect steep fines—approximately $423 million, mainly for immigration violations—from about 66,387 already-deported migrants in Central America and Mexico, hiring contractors using “skip tracing” techniques to locate them in their countries of origin. This is generating an outcry in the region.”
🇬🇫 French Guiana
JSS highlights the increase in Haitian protection claims in French Guiana since a 2023 National Court of Asylum ruling, noting that although many challenges remain, progress has been made to improve capacity: “New premises have been inaugurated, and the teams on site have been reinforced by civil servants on temporary assignments, some lasting several months, others shorter, such as two weeks. Video conference interviews are also being held from the headquarters in Fontenay-sous-Bois, in the Val-de-Marne department, although this is subject to the limitations imposed by the time difference. To encourage a way out of the crisis, a regional plan for welcoming asylum seekers and integrating refugees was also published by the prefecture in March 2025. This first for an overseas territory.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
Guatemala hosted as part of the Regional Conference on Migration (CRM) a Regional Workshop on Labor Migration, Regularization, and Skills Certification. (press release)
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
“The Trump administration has been quietly deporting migrants from Mexico to different countries in Central America despite the Mexican government’s willingness to accept the return of all its citizens,” reports CBS. Honduras has received 375 Mexicans deported by the US so far this year, says Infobae, while Guatemala has received nearly 2,350, per AP. The deported migrants are then rerouted to Mexico upon arrival in Central America.
The Mexican government has “rejected” these actions by the US and called for direct deportations. (EFE)
A group of 20 migrants from other countries were deported to Liberia by the US, reports CBS, adding, “The government of Liberia has said it intends to accept up to 1,200 third country deportees from the U.S. over the next year, and that the new arrivals will be allowed to apply for asylum there.”
“The government said the deportees have not been detained and described the arrangement with the US as humanitarian,” reports Al Jazeera, noting, “most of those deported were nationals of Latin American countries, including Venezuela and Cuba.”
Of the 20 sent to Liberia, 5—from Cuba, Brazil, and Cameroon—“resisted getting off the plane and were instead transported to Equatorial Guinea,” per Reuters.
23 Ecuadorians, 1 Costa Rican, and 1 Dominican were deported by the US to Paraguay. (EFE)
“Since January 2025, the Trump administration has entered into third country transfer agreements with more than 35 countries,” explains Human Rights First and Refugees International, detailing, “Between January 20, 2025 and August 15, 2026, the U.S. government has forcibly transferred more than 23,000 people to 26 third countries where many have no legal or personal ties, and many have been subjected to arbitrary detention, family separations, and chain refoulement. Almost 20,000 of these individuals have been sent to Mexico, more than 2,700 individuals to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 330 individuals to countries in Africa, and more than 200 people to other regions.” (press release)
Labor Migration
🇯🇲 Jamaica
David R. Salmon writes at Gleaner, calling for healthcare reforms to promote return migration of Jamaican healthcare workers abroad: “Targeted reforms should begin with incentives that encourage healthcare professionals in the diaspora to practise locally. Overseas specialists could commit several weeks each year to designated hospitals across the island. Such a visiting consultant programme would provide professionals interested in returning with an opportunity to gain experience within the local healthcare system before making a long-term commitment. Possible incentives could include fast-tracked temporary licensing arrangements for those who qualified overseas, as well as academic affiliations with institutions such as The University of the West Indies. The objective would be to create attractive opportunities for specialists in hard-to-fill areas of healthcare.”
I considered other proposals for addressing the emigration of Caribbean healthcare workers—as well as teachers—in a 2024 special edition of the AMB.
🇬🇹 Guatemala
Guatemala’s Labor Mobility program for regular labor migration sent within the first 7 months of the year 1,072 Guatemalans to the US, 404 to Spain, 340 to Canada, 19 to Germany, and 1 to Italy. (Infobae)
🇺🇸 United States
A pair of American Immigration Council reports (1, 2) explore 10 years of USCIS data “on nonimmigrant and immigrant petitions for high-skilled workers. The reports find that demand for high-skilled workers remains strong, with high approval rates across several nonimmigrant visa categories, including H-1B. But they also point to growing pressure on USCIS as the agency struggles to keep pace with rising demand for temporary workers, contributing to increasing backlogs. For workers seeking employment-based green cards, they face an even more uncertain way forward, due to record backlogs, limited visa availability, longer waits, and heightened scrutiny in certain categories.” (press release)
Migrants in Transit
🇬🇹 Guatemala
A paper at Frontiers in Climate based on a survey of 1,534 Guatemalan households finds that floods increase plans for both internal and international migration 2-7 years after exposure, arguing that “floods create a unique temporal window for migration by being severe enough to signal persistent risk while allowing sufficient recovery to accumulate resources. This produces a deferral period wherein individuals decide to migrate but take time to increase savings, activate social networks, and coordinate plans.”
Borders and Enforcement
🇨🇱 Chile
Chile’s protocol on returns and repatriations has been updated to account for the deportation of children and to establish a “base entry ban of 1 year… which must then be determined by SERMIG,” per InfoMigra.
The Chilean government has revoked a decree that allowed for flexible documentation requirements for Venezuelans attempting certain migratory procedures or to leave the country. (InfoMigra; see AMB 7/6/26)
🇺🇸 United States
“The Trump administration said Monday it is temporarily pausing construction of a contentious border construction project in Texas’ Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building the wall visits to do an “on-the-ground evaluation.”” (AP)