Americas Migration Brief - December 23, 2024
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
IDB’s Maleta Abierta blog reviews migration and public opinion trends from 2024, noting that “security remains the main fear associated with migration,” that “public opinion does not recognize the economic contributions of migrants,” and that “women face particular challenges and stigmas.”
“Surveys conducted by the IDB's Migration Unit reveal that a considerable part of the population in Northern Central America tends to overestimate the number of returnees… Around 76% believe that the returnee population does not negatively influence the country and 40% believe that it contributes positively to the economy.”
AP highlights concerns in Central America about reception and reintegration of deported migrants from the US.
“Whether in countries of origin, transit, or destination, the World Bank proposes three ideas to guide decision-makers, companies, chambers of commerce, and business associations so that they can respond to migratory flows in a more inclusive manner: 1. Invest in the regularization of companies and individuals… 2. Invest in the growth of MSMEs that show potential for inclusion… 3. Invest in social cohesion bearing in mind the specific economic vocation of the host communities.” (World Bank)
🇪🇨 Ecuador
A new CEDA report looks at migration and displacement amid Ecuador’s surge in violence in recent years. In addition to considering impacts on the integration of Venezuelan and Colombian migrants in the country, “the report examines how violence is reshaping migration patterns within and beyond Ecuador’s borders, driving internal displacement, record emigration, and mounting pressures on migration and humanitarian systems,” per a press release.
Key findings include that “high fees and bureaucratic hurdles continue to hinder regularization and integration for migrants, limiting access to documentation, services, and employment.”
Further, CEDA’s recommendations include calls for “Flexible humanitarian financing to respond to growing needs and prioritize at-risk populations, including human rights defenders” and “Expanded legal pathways for migration and protective measures for Ecuadorians abroad.”
A Barómetro de Xenofobia report explores media narratives about migration in Ecuador.
🇺🇾 Uruguay
A new local government initiative in the Montevideo metropolitan area “seeks to promote the labour insertion and social integration of migrants.”
🇦🇷 Argentina
An ILO report explores the supply and demand of business development services in Argentina with an emphasis on how to increase the opportunities for and productivity of entrepreneurship among Venezuelan migrant women.
🇵🇪 Peru
“Between 2018 and 2022, for every sol invested in Venezuelan refugees and migrants, (Peru) received 2.6 soles in return,” explains the World Bank.
Both Venezuelan migrants and Peruvians alike suffer from high levels of labor informality and struggles for social inclusion, writes Universidad del Pacífico’s Matthew Bird in an Encuentros SJM bulletin.
🇨🇱 Chile
La Tercera highlights challenges faced by Venezuelan migrants in Chile to regularize their status due to the closing of the country’s consulates.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
The French overseas departments of Guadeloupe and French Guiana have continued deportations to Haiti amid the country’s crisis, but “the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the National Court of Asylum (CNDA) are calling for an outright halt to expulsions to Port-au-Prince,” reports France-Antilles.
“The U.S. and Mexican governments’ reliance on deterrence and externalization policies that violate human rights, and collaboration by Mexican state actors with non-state criminals, contribute significantly to migrant disappearances,” according to a group of civil society organizations in a joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants.
🇵🇦 Panama
“Fifty-five US-bound migrants have died and 180 children have been abandoned this year while crossing the treacherous Darién jungle from Colombia, according to Panama’s president,” reports The Guardian, noting, “Panamanian authorities suspect that the death toll may be higher, as many bodies cannot be recovered from the inaccessible jungle.”
“Critical protection risks persist for migrant children waiting to transit through Darien,” warns Plan International.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Nearly 20,000 Cubans migrated to Brazil in the first eleven months of 2024, almost all seeking asylum, reports Folha, noting, “Never before have so many Cubans fleeing the chronic crisis on the island emigrated to Brazil.”
🇭🇳 Honduras
“In 2022, Honduras adopted the Law for the Prevention, Care and Protection of Internally Displaced Persons , a legal milestone that seeks to guarantee basic rights to affected people. However, its implementation has been slow. In 2024, UNHCR and the Inter-Agency Commission worked on creating a regulation to operationalize the law,” notes TuNota.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Mexico is a country of origin, transit, destination, and return for the thousands of migrants each year, who face seemingly endless physical and bureaucratic challenges in their search for safety,” says Doctors Without Borders.
NRC similarly reports on challenges faced by migrants in Mexico, additionally highlighting violence-induced displacement within and from the country.
A UNHCR bulletin details multiple internal displacement events across Mexico in recent months.
🇺🇸 United States
A new final rule from the Biden administration furthers the curbing of access to asylum in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration, says Newsweek, noting that civil society organizations such as the National Immigration Justice Center have denounced the rule and pledged to challenge it in court.
A new report finds that “as many as 1,360 children have never been reunited with their parents six years after the United States government forcibly separated them at the US border to deter migrants.” (Human Rights Watch press release)
“Despite their making up one of the largest groups of refugees in the world, Palestinians’ state of limbo since 1948 has created bureaucratic barriers unique to them. All refugees who are resettled in the US from Palestine have their ‘country of origin’ categorized in USCIS data as ‘Unknown,’” explains The Guardian, highlighting the unique challenges faced by Palestinian asylum seekers in the US.
“Humanitarian parole is part of a much larger ecosystem of migration controls fundamentally motivated by security – not humanitarian – calculations and domestic foreign policy objectives. This reality is apparent today in the differential treatment of humanitarian parolees from Ukraine and Afghanistan,” according to The Immigration Lab.
The incoming Trump administration’s immigration policy faces three potential scenarios, says Brookings: “More bark than bite… Aggressive anti-immigrant policy, within the bounds of the law… [or] Constitutional crisis.”
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, noting, “As Trump administration officials ramp up plans to deport undocumented migrants on a massive scale likely requiring the use of military aircraft, concern is sweeping throughout communities where many families are “blended”: citizens living with non-citizens. Fear is spreading in south Texas, while council members and law enforcement in San Diego disagree on cooperation.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
The mayors of Cali (Colombia), Ciudad Juárez (Mexico), Denver (United States), and Mexico City (Mexico) are joining the Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration, founded by the mayors of Bogotá (Colombia) and San Antonio (United States). (press release)
Members of US president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have backchanneled with government officials from Mexico and El Salvador about migration, attempting to get the two countries to accept deportees, reports Bloomberg. This follows previous outreach attempts with other Central American and Caribbean nations. (see AMB 12/9/24)
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Ministry of National Security of Jamaica signed a memorandum of cooperation… to enhance their ability to share records containing immigration and criminal histories of Jamaican nationals being repatriated from the United States… ICE has similar agreements with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.” (press release)
🇧🇴🇨🇱 Chile and Bolivia
Chile and Bolivia have signed a much anticipated agreement on migration and border enforcement. “Before this agreement, Bolivia did not allow the return or re-entry of migrants from foreign territories, which created a gap in the management of the irregular flow of migrants. With the entry into force of the new agreement, both Chile and Bolivia agree to accept the return of their citizens and migrants from third countries,” among other provisions, reports EFE
🇲🇽🇨🇴 Colombia and Mexico
The presidents of Colombia and Mexico met to discuss migration, among other topics. Both leaders emphasized the importance of regional integration. (AP)
🇵🇦🇬🇹 Guatemala and Panama
The ministers of foreign affairs of Guatemala and Panama met to discuss migration, among other topics. (AGN)
🇩🇪🇨🇴 Colombia and Germany
“The governments of Colombia and Germany met in Bogotá on Wednesday and issued an early warning due to the increase in unqualified asylum applications from Colombians, which would put visa exemption at risk,” says El Espectador.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Former Lula administration official Paulo Illes considers at MigraMundo institutional challenges in Brazil and potential opportunities for improvements in regulation, policy, and ministerial responsibilities.
Labor Migration
🌎 Regional
The IDB’s Maleta Abierta blog looks at the challenges and opportunities of labor mobility across Latin America and the Caribbean.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
An ILO paper explores “(im)migration to, from and within the Dominican Republic in the 20th century,” with a focus on labor migration.
🇺🇸 United States
Among other changes, a new rule “eliminates the list of countries whose nationals are eligible for the H-2 [temporary labor migration] programs, permitting petitioners to sponsor H-2 workers from any country without the need to fulfill additional eligibility requirements,” per Fragomen.
A Niskanen report investigates opportunities to address healthcare worker shortages through immigration.
“Nearly half of U.S. adults say legal immigration into the United States should be kept at present levels,” according to a Pew survey; notably, “42% say highly skilled workers such as scientists, doctors, nurses and computer programmers should be given top priority to legally immigrate to the U.S.”
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
“The director of Panama’s Migration Service, Roger Mojica, said on December 17 that 305,549 migrants, 70 percent of them Venezuelan (209,070), had crossed through the Darién Gap jungle region straddling Colombia and Panama since the beginning of 2024. That is a significant decline from the 520,085 migrants who passed through the dangerous route in 2023. Mojica’s figure is 8,195 more than his agency had reported through November, which means an average of 512 people per day crossed the Darién during the first 16 days of December. While that is relatively low by the past two years’ standards, it is an increase from November’s average of 371 per day, which was the lowest since April 2022. Mojica added that 51 deportation flights had departed Panama, mostly to Colombia and Ecuador and mostly with U.S. funding, since early August, and that he expects the pace of flights to increase after Donald Trump is inaugurated.” (via Weekly Border Update)
A REMHU paper explores the political economy of irregular migration from the Andes through Central America, including “special attention to the various actors involved in producing, distributing, exchanging, and consuming goods and services in this economy,” including both formal and informal activities.
The impacts of climate change are causing internal migration within Chile and may provoke emigration from Bolivia and Peru, says El Mostrador, calling for Chile to contemplate migratory laws that consider climate-related migration.
🇺🇾 Uruguay
Since Milei was elected, Argentines are increasingly seeking permanent residency in Uruguay, reports La Nación.
🇺🇸 United States
MPI’s Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh reviews on LinkedIn new US border numbers, explaining that “data for November show a stunning shift in border arrivals, with more encounters at ports of entry than between. In November, there were 48K encounters at ports of entry compared to 47K between. Though the difference is slim, this marks a significant shift in border encounters. When there is an option for orderly migration, it is used, as evidenced by this data.”
Borders and Enforcement
🇺🇸 United States
In an in-depth interview at The Watch, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council looks at the logistics and the potential of mass deportations under the Trump administration.
“Which places would be most affected by the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation proposals?” (Brookings)
Polling shows that support for deportations is not a blank check or as widespread as some have claimed: “Significant majorities of groups that voted for President-elect Donald Trump want his administration to focus immigration enforcement on threats to public safety rather than cast an unlimited net,” explains National Immigration Forum.
““U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 271,484 immigrants to nearly 200 countries last fiscal year, the highest tally in a decade,” reports the Washington Post, based on the agency’s annual report published yesterday.” (via Latin America Daily Briefing)
“A small, bipartisan group of senators have been quietly sketching out a possible new border deal for early 2025,” reports Axios.
“An investigation by The Texas Tribune has identified for the first time where Texas has built its border wall, information the state keeps secret as it pours billions into the highly touted infrastructure project. It has revealed that the unprecedented foray into what has historically been a federal responsibility — Texas is the first state to build its own border wall — has so far yielded little return on billions of dollars invested.” (Texas Tribune)
🇨🇦 Canada
“The government of Canada has released a comprehensive plan to enhance border security aimed at addressing challenges such as irregular migration, drug trafficking, and organized crime across the U.S. border,” explains Fragomen.