Americas Migration Brief - December 30, 2024
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
A Cadem survey finds that 55% of Chileans support a regularization process for immigrants who entered the country illegally, reports El Mostrador. (see AMB 12/16/24 on Chile’s proposed regularization and see a Chilean government and UNHCR presentation characterizing the registered population)
Immigrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti, Peru, and Venezuela contributed an estimated 10% of Chile’s GDP in 2022 despite making up a lesser percent of the population, according to projections from an ECLAC paper.
A Centro de Políticas Migratorias and Espacio Público report explores the contributions of migrants to the Chilean health and care system. An El País article by one of the report authors explains that migrants suffer from less access to the healthcare system than Chilean nationals.
🇨🇴 Colombia
1.55 million Venezuelans are affiliated with the Colombian health care system, per a press release. An estimated 2.8 million Venezuelans currently reside in the country, per R4V.
An ECLAC paper explores the existing literature on labor market impacts of Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
InSight Crime looks at the exploitive role of organized crime in migration across the Americas, noting, “The continued rise of hardline anti-immigrant policies, coupled with heightened region-wide insecurity, creates the perfect storm for Latin America’s organized crime groups to continue reaping the benefits of the region’s dysfunctional approach to immigration.”
🇻🇪🇨🇴 Colombia and Venezuela
TalCual highlights stories of support for victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation between Colombia and Venezuela.
🇩🇲 Dominica
An IOM report explores migration management and a variety of migration issues in Dominica, including issues of human security and climate change-related displacement.
🇺🇸 United States
“U.S. immigration authorities will once more put families with children in detention centers when President-elect Donald Trump returns to office next month,” reports Washington Post, noting, “The federal judge who oversees immigration detention programs involving minors has set 20 days as the maximum amount of time children can be held at the family facilities.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
“The Mexican government is in talks with other Latin American countries to directly receive the next migrants deported by US President-elect Donald Trump, instead of accepting them in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed on Thursday.” (El Universal)
“Guatemala is open to receiving citizens of other Central American nations who are deported from the United States, three sources familiar with the matter said, as the country looks to build a positive relationship with the incoming Trump administration,” reports Reuters, although La Hora notes the Guatemalan government has denied the position and asserts that no agreement has been made despite openness to discussion.
Canadian ministers met with Trump aides to discuss tariff threats and efforts to deter irregular migration, per Al Jazeera.
🇭🇳 Honduras
The Honduran government has announced they will prepare a new regulatory framework for the country’s Migration and Foreigners Law in 2025. “One of the key points will be to guarantee dignified and humane treatment for migrants, especially those who travel through the country in search of better opportunities.” (Canal 8)
In recent years, the government has repeatedly approved amnesties for fines on irregular migrants in transit. (see, for example, AMB 10/28/24)
Labor Migration
🇺🇸 United States
“A multiday firestorm has erupted over comments made by two incoming advisers to President-elect Donald Trump about H-1B temporary worker visas, a carve-out for high-skilled workers who some in the MAGA world say are taking American jobs,” reports NBC, while New York Times notes that Trump “said in an interview that he had used the visas for skilled workers ‘many times’... But his comments — which were enthusiastically embraced by the technology industry as an endorsement — may muddy the waters because Mr. Trump appears to have only sparingly used the H-1B visa program.”
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
A working paper from Francisco Rodríguez explores the potential effects of economic sanctions on Venezuelan emigration, projecting that a return to a maximum pressure sanctions policy on the Maduro regime could result in 120,000 more emigrants between 2025 and 2029 in comparison to the current status quo and more than 600,000 more emigrants than a scenario of lifting all economic sanctions.
🇵🇪 Peru
709,160 Peruvians emigrated and did not return between January 2020 and October 2023, reports La República, noting that most are young adults.
“An Ipsos survey conducted in August indicates that more than half, 57% of Peruvians, are willing to leave the country this year, and within these the majority, 46%, indicate that the main reason they would leave the country is in search of better economic opportunities.”
🇲🇽 Mexico
An IOM report based on a household survey in southern Mexico looks at the nexus between migration, the environment, and climate change.
“A group of 15 Cuban rafters was intercepted on December 24 on a beach in Punta Cancún, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.” (ADN Cuba)
Borders and Enforcement
🇯🇲 Jamaica
“Jamaican authorities repatriated 21 irregular migrants to the port of Santiago de Cuba on Saturday, marking the first operation of its kind conducted by the Caribbean nation through maritime means. Most of the returnees are immigrants who likely left in rafts,” reports CiberCuba.
🇲🇽🇺🇸 United States and Mexico
“Mexican security forces have detained about 475,000 irregular migrants since October, authorities said on Friday, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatens Mexico with tariffs unless it stops illegal migrants from arriving at the shared border,” reports Reuters, noting that the figure “suggests measures intensified towards the end of the year.”
“Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to warn relatives and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained by the U.S. immigration department… the app would allow users to press a tab that would send an alert notification to previously chosen relatives and the nearest Mexican consulate,” reports AP.
“Mexico to open 25 shelters for deported migrants” (Border Report)
More on Migration
🌎 Regional
“Migration Governance Indicators Data on the Implementation of the Global Compact for Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean” (IOM)