Americas Migration Brief - January 6, 2025
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
A World Vision report explores the experiences of migrant children in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela; highlighting the important role of family for emotional support; reports Estoy en la Frontera.
🇨🇱 Chile
As of the end of December 2023, an estimated 1.9 million migrants were residing in Chile, according to new government estimates. Leading nationalities are Venezuelan (38%), Peruvian (14%), Colombian (11%), and Haitian (10%); while 17.6% of migrants are in an irregular situation. (El Mostrador, BioBioChile; see last week’s AMB on public support for a proposed regularization program)
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
“Until recently, Venezuelan child refugees and migrants in Trinidad and Tobago were barred from State-run schools. This year, a change in the law backed by the United Nations means that several dozen were able to benefit from formal education,” reports UN News, highlighting the new opportunity. However, “Over 2,000 refugee and migrant children remain excluded from the school system… The hope is that many more students like Astrid will be able to walk into the nation’s classrooms to start the 2025-2026 academic year.” (see also AMB 9/16/24)
🇲🇽 Mexico
The Washington Post highlights the role of remittances in Mexico and how Trump’s proposed mass deportations from the US would have wide ranging impacts on development.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
“The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has issued Resolution No. 2/24 on human mobility caused by climate change. This publication seeks to provide a comprehensive response to climate mobility, providing guidance for States in the region in developing regulations, programs, and public policies to protect the rights of people who are compelled to move due to the adverse effects of climate change,” per a press release.
Guidance includes asserting that states have the obligation to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to those in a situation of immobility or internal displacement as a result of the effects of climate change. Complementary protection measures such as temporary protection schemes and humanitarian visas are also outlined as important procedures in response to climate-related displacement.
In addition, “states should recognize in their legislation that the impacts of climate change, including socio-environmental disasters, can trigger situations that seriously disrupt public order, threatening the life, security or freedom of persons, giving rise to the need for international protection in accordance with the expanded definition of refugee established in the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees.”
🇧🇷 Brazil
Brazil has altered the regulations for its humanitarian visa pathways for Afghans, Haitians, and Ukrainians, reports MigraMundo, explaining that Haitians are now limited by the same mechanism limiting Afghan entries since October 2023: “visa issuance is based on the capacity of civil society institutions to welcome the beneficiaries,” such as with shelter space. Civil society has expressed concerns about the new restrictions, which also include a reversal on previous relaxations of requirements for family reunification. (see also AMB 10/9/23)
MigraMundo notes that just 777 Haitians received humanitarian visas in 2024 in comparison to 3,714 beneficiaries in 2023; 760 Afghans received such visas in 2024 in comparison to 5,526 in 2023.
🇨🇱 Chile
World Vision Chile’s Stephanie Coscing expresses concern at G5 Noticias that the recent eviction of an informal settlement at Cerro Chuño, Arica in northern Chile leaves at least 300 mainly migrant children vulnerable and in need of protection.
🇺🇸 United States
“Trump plans to end President Joe Biden's humanitarian programs, including one that allows migrants in parts of Mexico to make an appointment on a U.S. government app, known as CBP One, to approach a port of entry and enter the U.S. legally,” explains Reuters, reporting that migrants in Mexico are “anxious” to get to the US before these programs end.
“Improvements to the resettlement system are easy for a future administration to undo, and with Trump returning to the White House, refugee admissions are likely to fall. It's not yet clear which changes Trump will impose or how deeply they will affect people seeking protection, but it would be a mistake for America to abandon its opportunity to welcome refugees and benefit from their presence,” says Reason.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
The presidents of Honduras and Mexico met to discuss migration, calling for a regional meeting of Latin American foreign ministers through the CELAC bloc to discuss the subject ahead of Trump’s inauguration in the US. (El Economista, EFE, Canal 8)
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Mexico and United States
Despite initial resistance, “Mexico opened the possibility Friday of receiving non-Mexican migrants deported by the United States… President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing that in cases where the U.S. would not return migrants to their countries ‘we can collaborate through different mechanisms,’” reports AP, noting a lack of specifics on who or what that might entail.
“Trump largely got along with AMLO, who cooperated on U.S. migration policy. Although Sheinbaum has pushed back more than AMLO did in her public statements, she has largely followed suit in practice,” reports WPR, highlighting Mexico’s enforcement efforts in cooperation with the US.
🇺🇸🇭🇳 Honduras and United States
“Honduras has threatened to shut down rent-free United States military bases in the country if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his mass deportation policy. President Xiomara Castro said officials would consider ‘a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military arena,’ in the face of ‘unnecessary reprisals against our migrants,’” reports Newsday.
🇺🇸🇵🇦 Panama and United States
“As human smugglers urge migrants to rush to the U.S., Panama is trying to send a signal to Trump that it is doing all it can to curb migration, said Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Ruiz-Hernández, who added there is also a message for migrants,” reports Wall Street Journal, highlighting Panamanian efforts to build razor fences in the Darien Gap, strengthen enforcement, and conduct deportation flights with US cooperation.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
“According to Panamanian immigration authorities, 302,203 people crossed the Darien in 2024, compared with 520,085 in 2023,” a 41% reduction, reports France24. (see AMB 12/23/24)
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
Some Haitian migrants are turning to the sea to irregularly enter the Dominican Republic due to road checkpoints, reports Listin Diario.
Borders and Enforcement
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
“More than 276,000 Haitians with irregular status were deported from the Dominican Republic during 2024,” reports CNN, noting, “In the last quarter, between October and December, when an operation was launched to repatriate up to 10,000 undocumented Haitians per week, by order of the National Security and Defense Council headed by President Luis Abinader, 94,223 people were deported.”
🇧🇸 The Bahamas
“Bahamas returns 19 irregular migrants to Cuba in first operation of 2025” (Directorio Noticias)
🇺🇸 United States
“President-elect Donald Trump has promised to increase the pace of U.S. military shipbuilding. But his pledge to also clamp down on immigration could make it hard for shipyards already facing workforce shortages.” (ProPublica)