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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
A USAID and World Council of Credit Unions report explores the economic inclusion and integration of Venezuelan migrants in Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Lima and Callao, Peru.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Folha highlights the continuing challenges faced by twice-displaced refugees living in southern Brazil that were affected by last year’s heavy flooding—there were an estimated 43,000 refugees affected among the nearly 600,000 internally displaced by the disaster last April. (see last year’s special edition of the AMB on internal displacement here)
🇨🇱 Chile
“The association of migration with “annoying noises” complicates the problem into one of intercultural coexistence, the management of which has historically been difficult in Chile,” writes Natalia Bieletto-Bueno at CIPER, considering the recent tensions in Chile over migrants playing music and otherwise producing “noise nuisance.”
🇲🇽 Mexico
El País highlights efforts by Mexican border cities to expand shelter space and prepare to receive anticipated deportees from the US.
“The Migration Law recognizes family unity as one of its principles, describing it as a “substantive element for the formation of a healthy and productive social fabric of the communities of foreigners in the country”. However, the law imposes arbitrary, subjective and disproportionate requirements for achieving this principle. Forcing refugees in Mexico to demonstrate economic solvency in order to reunite with their families ignores the reality of people arriving without resources, often living on the streets,” says Asylum Access, calling for improved access to family reunification in Mexico.
🇺🇸 United States
“A federal appeals court on Friday declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy unlawful, casting a cloud of uncertainty over more than half a million unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S.,” reports CBS.
New York Times highlights the critical role irregular migrants play in funding the social security system in the US, despite not having access to the benefits themselves: “This group paid an estimated $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022.”
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
Brazil could take up a leadership role in providing protection to asylum seekers and others on the move in the Americas as the Trump administration takes a hardline restrictionist approach in the US, I explained in an interview with The Latin Times about the year ahead and regional implications of Trump’s mass deportation plans.
🇭🇹 Haiti
An estimated 1,041,000 Haitians are currently internally displaced due to violence and humanitarian crisis, per IOM; “This marks a threefold increase in displacement within a year, rising from 315,000 in December 2023 to over a million.”
“The number of internally displaced children in Haiti has increased by nearly 50 per cent since September – now equaling approximately one in eight children in the entire country,” notes UNICEF.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
Complaints of abuses and human rights violations continue amid the Dominican Republic’s mass deportation campaign targeted at Haitians. “What has also caused alarm is the testimony of several Dominicans who claim that they are detained in immigration raids solely because of their physical appearance. Some say that they are taken to the detention center, mistaking them for Haitians,” reports CDN. 14,633 Haitians were deported in the first 15 days of 2025. (see also Diario Libre, last week’s AMB)
🇨🇴 Colombia
Violent conflict between the ELN and former FARC combatants had displaced over 70 families in Colombia’s Norte de Santander department, reported El Colombiano on Friday. As of Sunday, according to the department’s governor, around 5,000 individuals have been displaced, reports Al Jazeera.
🇦🇼 Aruba
“An Aruban appeals judge has barred the island's government from carrying out deportations while it is litigating against denials of humanitarian relief,” following the deportation of a Venezuelan migrant who had sought protection in the Dutch constituent country, reports Crónicas del Caribe. Because Aruba lacks local legislation on asylum, “according to the judge, the underlying issue is that Aruba must adjust its actions to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right of "non-refoulement" to a territory where a person's life is considered to be at risk.”
🇨🇺 Cuba
In Cuba, ““Faced with a dire shortage of medicines, supplies, and medical personnel despite the authorities’ claims about the quality of Cuban healthcare, many patients are considering migrating just to survive. Others cannot afford to even think about it,” reports El País. (via CEDA’s US-Cuba News Brief)
🇺🇸 United States
The Biden administration extended and expanded eligibility for Hong Kongers for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), deferring for 24 months the deportation of those with removal orders. (memo)
An estimated 270,000 migrants are waiting in Mexico for CBP One appointments to be able to enter the US legally and seek asylum, reports CBS, noting that the app is set to be shut down by the Trump administration.
The Laken Riley Act is advancing in the Senate and looks set to pass. An op-ed at The New York Times says that Democrats that have supported the bill will ultimately regret it, while the ACLU warns that “this unprecedented and likely unconstitutional bill would result in a significant spike of racial profiling of longtime residents, potentially sweeping thousands of people into jails and detention centers.” (see last week’s AMB for more)
A Senate committee held a hearing on the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico.” Austin Kocher explains at his Substack the potential revival of the policy from the first Trump administration: “MPP forced asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border to wait in Mexico (outside of the U.S.) for their hearing instead of being allowed into the country to pursue their claim. As a result, MPP functioned as a bureaucratic border that led to a small fraction of these asylum seekers ever receiving humanitarian protection.”
WOLA’s Adam Isacson testified at the hearing, explaining the dire insecurity faced by asylum seekers returned to wait in Mexico, left as “sitting ducks” vulnerable to preying organized crime.
“Border Patrol Could Become Trump's Secret Police: A Q&A With Former Agent Jenn Budd” (The Border Chronicle)
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
The governments of Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela met in Mexico for a two-day meeting to discuss migration and to create a unified position in response to the threat of mass deportations from the US. A joint declaration by all of the countries except for Costa Rica included a call to reject criminalization of migrants. (press release, EFE, AP)
Mexico will reportedly “expand support to other Latin American and Caribbean nations as part of a regional migratory response” and expand existing aid programs. (AP)
Mexican, Guatemalan, and Honduran officials report being “unable to meet with the incoming Trump administration… leaving them in the dark about the president-elect’s plans to deport millions of illegal immigrants” and how they should prepare, reports The New York Times.
An MPI Situational Awareness report explores recent migration trends and highlights the future of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, based on interviews with officials from the Colombian government, OAS, and PADF.
“The Los Angeles Declaration’s new Technical Secretariat has recognized that, rather than creating a new process, there is a need for enhanced coordination and alignment between existing processes. This coordination should look to reduce duplication, optimize resources, and ensure comprehensive coverage of migration-related issues. To address this, it plans to organize a coordination meeting with the technical secretariats of several regional processes in early 2025, aimed at harmonizing work plans, identifying opportunities for collaboration, and streamlining efforts for maximum impact.”
Caricom and ILO are launching an analysis of the Caribbean bloc’s labor market needs “to inform the development of a comprehensive labour migration policy for the region,” per a press release.
Dutch Member of Parliament Faith Bruyning has called for greater coordination among Dutch constituent countries Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten on regional migration issues, particularly in response to Venezuelan migration. (Curaçao Chronicles)
🇲🇽🇬🇹 Guatemala and Mexico
The presidents of Guatemala and Mexico spoke on the phone about migration and about development projects along their shared border. (Prensa Libre)
🇲🇽🇺🇸 United States and Mexico
The Times looks at the Trump-Sheinbaum relationship and the potential for US-Mexico cooperation, highlighting comments from various former Mexican officials.
“This time around, Mexico is preparing for a Trump administration populated by people “who are 100 per cent loyal to the president and his agenda,” Alejandro Celorio, a Mexican diplomat who oversaw migration when Trump first came to power, said. “I prefer to prepare for the worst. We have to prepare for the imposition of tariffs … we have to start saying, well, you don’t like migration, and an economic crisis in Mexico will only generate more migration.””
Labor Migration
🇺🇸 United States
Lauren Gilbert reviews on her Substack the recent controversy over H-1B visas, including access to and impacts of the program. She explains, “different actors and firms use the H-1B programs in different ways. Some firms treat it as a way to bring in highly skilled immigrants with skills they could not find elsewhere; others treat it as a guest worker visa. This is one of the reasons evaluating the whole H-1B program is difficult; it is true that in some cases, it is (as per Elon Musk) to bring in top engineering talent; others (as per Bernie Sanders) really do use it as an offshoring method. There is no one, single way in which H-1B recipients fit into the US economy.”
“Fearing a visa crackdown by Trump, immigrant tech workers cancel overseas vacations and skip family visits” (Fortune)
An Economic Innovation Group report explores “How to Fix High-Skilled Immigration to Maximize American Interests.”
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
El Diario documents the story of one Venezuelan migrant’s journey by foot and bus from Venezuela to Chile.
A Saltwatta Roots report explores irregular maritime migration in the Caribbean to Central America (and then the US) via San Andrés, additionally including impacts on local ecosystems and communities.
🇳🇮🇨🇷 Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Bloomberg and El País both highlight migration at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, the former focusing on migration en route to the US and the latter focusing on Nicaraguans seeking refuge in Costa Rica. Corruption and money dictate the experiences of those attempting to cross.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
“More than 94,000 Ecuadorians left Ecuador in 2024 and did not return,” reports Primicias, noting that 58,552 had traveled to El Salvador, likely en route to the US.
For more on displacement and emigration from Ecuador, check out a recent CEDA report highlighted in AMB 12/23/24.
🇲🇽 Mexico
An IDB paper finds that women’s labor force participation significantly decreases the probability of male household members migrating.
Borders and Enforcement
🇨🇦 Canada
The Canadian government has announced a new $1.3 billion effort to strengthen border security, including deterring irregular migration. The press release additionally notes that “Since the introduction of an additional protocol to the Safe Third Country Agreement, in partnership with the U.S., the number of asylum claims from people crossing illegally has dropped from an average of 165 per day in March 2023 to 12 per day since then” and that “Since implementing a partial visa requirement for Mexican nationals in February 2024, Canada has seen a significant decrease in asylum claims from Mexican nationals. This change has reduced claims from Mexican citizens at airports across the country by 97%.” (see also CIC News)
🇲🇽 Mexico
The New York Times looks at some of the internal conflict and decision making within the Mexican government over migration management and border enforcement in the last few years, zeroing in on blame attributed to Francisco Garduño Yáñez, former head of the country’s National Institute of Migration.
🇺🇸 United States
The US announced new sanctions on “multiple senior executives of travel agencies operating in Europe and Asia for knowingly facilitating irregular migration to the United States,” per a press release that adds that “To date, we have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on individuals from 16 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, and Western Africa, helping to close more than 70 charter flight routes, including routes connecting Nicaragua to Cuba and Libya.”
“The incoming Trump administration is planning to ramp up operations to arrest unauthorized immigrants across major U.S. cities next week after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, targeting "sanctuary" jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials,” reports CBS.
That said, “President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has privately told Republican lawmakers to temper their expectations for the incoming administration’s initial deportation operation, citing limited resources,” reports CNN.
“ICE records show Biden admin plans could give Trump a head start on deportations” with efforts to increase immigration detention capacity (Axios)
A private security firm is attempting to recruit former law enforcement to help the Trump administration deport migrants, reports The Enquirer, surmising, “the recruitment effort suggests at least some private firms see the new president's promise to deport millions of immigrants who are not legally in the country as an opportunity to land government contracts.”
“During President Biden’s term, Border Patrol arrested an unprecedented number of immigrants who crossed illegally into the United States. Many people believe President Biden caused this increase in migration by reducing border enforcement. However, data obtained by the Cato Institute through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests challenges this narrative. In fact, the border crisis began before Biden took office and ended before he left,” explains Cato’s David Bier at Alex Nowrasteh's Immigration Insights.
“From his administration’s first day, Biden actually increased border enforcement: arrests, detentions, and removals of border crossers all increased. It failed to deter crossers, and they overwhelmed the Border Patrol anyway. The prevailing narrative that blames Biden overlooks the real causes of the crisis: America’s robust labor market and bad immigration policies that incentivized illegal entries. However, Trump, not Biden, mostly started those bad policies. Biden eventually phased out most of them; he increased legal migration, and as the labor market cooled, the problem dissipated.”
A DHS fact sheet summarizes efforts by the Biden administration the last four years.