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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
IDB highlights the challenges faced by migrant children in accessing education, explaining programs in Colombia and Brazil geared towards digital solutions.
World Bank highlights the importance of supporting refugee integration in Latin America.
Looking at the relationship between Latin America and a potential Trump administration in the US, Catherine Osborn explains at Foreign Policy, “Being on the receiving end of mass deportations could be highly destabilizing for labor markets in Latin American countries, worsening the conditions that prompted some people to emigrate in the first place. And lack of decent work could prompt more people to seek out organized criminal groups—which Trump has pledged to combat with military force.” Reintegration of returnees would be a challenging task.
🇨🇱 Chile
Although migrant children have legal access to the education system in Chile, they “face significant challenges such as bullying and low participation of families in school life. Significant problems include overcrowding in preschool and barriers to higher education,” reports El Mostrador, citing a UCSC study in the Biobío region.
🇧🇷 Brazil
FT highlights the situation of Venezuelans living in the Brazilian border state of Roraima, noting that “it is not uncommon to hear complaints about occasional xenophobia, while some locals grumble about the impact on jobs and the cost of living,” and that “although the daily flow of people crossing the border has fallen, it is still around 350.”
Check out my special edition of the AMB from last October about the growth of the Venezuelan population in Brazil and efforts to relocate migrants from the border to the interior of the country, where there are greater job opportunities.
OPEB explores the way various media portray Venezuelan migration in Brazil, noting a tendency towards portraying the topic as a crisis.
🇦🇷 Argentina
A new decree “increased the cost of immigration fees by 1,500%. The measure, which came into effect on July 5 of this year, makes it difficult to regularize residency and mainly affects the most vulnerable migrants,” says CAREF.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“AP highlights the story of a Mexico City clinic, where ‘Haitian migrants make up a good portion of the medical practice… The Bassuary clinic offers free consultations, and the family also began giving food to the Haitians, and eventually helped some find work, including at the clinic,’” I explain at the Latin America Daily Briefing.
🇺🇸 United States
New York Times breaks down the immigration rhetoric of the Republican National Convention last week, reporting that “falsehoods about noncitizens’ voting have become more pervasive,” that migrant criminalization is being amplified despite evidence showing that migrants are less likely to commit crime, and that “‘Mass deportation now!’ is the new ‘Build the wall.’”
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
Displacement caused by Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean remains persistent. (see IOM situation report, IFRC, last week’s AMB).
🇭🇹 Haiti
“At least 40 migrants have died, and several others were injured after a boat they were travelling in caught fire off the coast of Cap Haitien, in the north of Haiti,” reports IOM; the agency “is concerned about the high number of forced returns of Haitians during this current period of civil unrest and uncertainty.” More than 86,000 Haitians have been forcibly returned to the country thus far this year.
A UN Women report explores the differentiated needs of Haitian women, noting that “300,000 displaced Haitian women and girls lack basic safety and health services.”
🇬🇹 Guatemala
“Security forces reported Thursday the discovery of human remains on the border with Guatemala, as well as attacks on a migrant and a truck driver as part of three violent incidents,” reports La Jornada.
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Since 15 July, clashes between non-state armed groups have displaced about 1,500 people from seven villages in El Sinaí in the Cauca department,” per OCHA.
“The last two years have seen the annual number of people internally displaced by conflict in Colombia soar above 250,000, surpassing even pre-2016 levels,” reports The New Humanitarian, explaining that “Most victims of the conflict live in rural parts of Colombia, in areas that lack the investment and infrastructure that urban centres like Bogotá enjoy.”
🇧🇸 The Bahamas
A Climate Risk Management paper explores hurricane-induced displacement in the Bahamas, identifying that “11 hurricanes across three periods caused displacement in one or more of the 17 major islands.”
🇧🇷 Brazil
An Externalizing Asylum paper debates the use of Brazil’s humanitarian visa policy for Haitians, Syrians, Afghans, and Ukranians as a form of “an externalization mechanism, considering the balance between migration control and humanitarian protection. The findings suggest that, despite issues due to their ad hoc nature and implementation challenges, humanitarian visas can provide safe access to safe territories to vulnerable forced migrants, and expedite regular migratory status, and, in doing so outside the state’s territory, might be a novel approach to externalization, combining states’ interests in border control and the (human) rights of refugees.” (via Forced Migration Current Awareness)
🇺🇸 United States
“The number of migrants unlawfully crossing the U.S. southern border has continued to drop markedly in July, nearing a threshold that would require officials to lift a partial ban on asylum claims enacted by President Biden,” reports CBS, noting that “Border Patrol is on pace to record fewer than 60,000 migrant apprehensions this month, the lowest level since September 2020.”
“By eliminating the requirement to ask migrants about their fear of persecution, the Department of Homeland Security has also made it easier for Border Patrol agents to simply ignore migrants who request asylum,” says Immigration Impact, noting that USCIS data “reveals that the number of people referred for credible fear interviews has dropped 90% since the Biden administration’s rule went into effect… Considering that border crossings haven’t dropped 90% since the end of May, this suggests that the procedural change has had the greatest impact on asylum seekers, not the change in asylum standards itself.”
The US has extended and redesignated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status, with an estimated 4,300 additional Somali nationals expected to potentially benefit from the measure. (press release)
“Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. repeatedly sexually abused and harassed children in their care for at least eight years, the Justice Department said Thursday, alleging a shocking litany of offenses that took place as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.” The Justice Department is suing the company. (AP)
Migrant advocates have documented dozens of cases “involving separation from parents, spouses, children or siblings” during deportations and returns to Mexico by the US Border Patrol. (AZ Central)
The US government has moved to recognize Venezuelan passports expired for up to 10 years in relation to applications for the CHNV humanitarian parole program. Access to passports (or passport renewal) in Venezuela is greatly limited. (press release)
The CBP One app was affected by the Microsoft outage on Friday. (Newsweek)
“America is Stuck in a Century-Old Immigration Debate: Restricting immigration to appease domestic political grievances is likely to backfire—again.” (Foreign Policy)
🇨🇦 Canada
As Canada grapples with the uneven distribution of asylum seekers across the country and related capacity constraints, “The premiers of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador are so far the only leaders to publicly volunteer to take in asylum seekers to ease pressure on Quebec, despite a joint call from all premiers to distribute them more evenly across the country,” reports CBC.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
The US, Costa Rica, and Panama met on the side of a regional Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity meeting to discuss irregular migration. The US and Costa Rica also met bilaterally, discussing migration control, among other topics. “Costa Rica 's Foreign Minister Arnoldo André announced that his government is considering promoting a migration agreement with the United States focused on the voluntary repatriation of migrants, similar to the one signed by Panama with the U.S. government,” notes EFE. (EFE, Hola News, El Observador; see last week’s AMB)
Belize hosted a meeting of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM). (Channel 5)
An IECAH report maps coordination mechanisms across Latin America and the Caribbean for responding to migration.
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Mexico and United States
“Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that he will send a letter to U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump about migration and the importance of economic integration between the two neighboring countries,” reports Reuters.
🇪🇸🇸🇻 El Salvador and Spain
Salvadoran and Spanish officials met to discuss safe migration pathways, such as through labor migration. (El Mundo)
🇧🇷 Brazil
The Brazilian government has now confirmed the new date and location of the second Comigrar (National Conference on Migration, Refuge and Statelessness). It will be held on November 8, 9 and 10 in Brasília. (press release, MigraMundo)
🇨🇺 Cuba
Cuba’s parliament approved the “new and controversial” Migration Law which removes “the 24-month limit for Cubans residing abroad to lose their property and political rights on the island,” among other provisions. (Diário Las Américas; see AMB 7/1/24)
Labor Migration
🌎 Regional
“The populations of many Caribbean countries are ageing, while the number of working individuals who contribute to taxes, fees, and levies necessary for funding pensions and maintaining health and education sectors is declining,” explains Sir Ronald Sanders at Observer, noting that Barbados’ prime minister has considered expanding immigration as a solution.
🇯🇲 Jamaica
Jamaica’s Ministry of Education is looking to recruit teachers for the upcoming school year from potentially Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, and/or India, reports Gleaner.
Last month’s special edition of the AMB explored the high rates of emigration of teachers (and healthcare workers) from the Caribbean, noting that recruitment of teachers from abroad to come work in the region could be a potential solution to this pervasive challenge.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
“A Unifor delegation recently visited the Dominican Republic to support the international organization Banana Link, and their project aimed at improving the conditions of Haitian migrant workers in the banana production sector… This project includes the development and expansion of the National Banana Workers’ union (SINTRABAM), worker training, and advocating for a migrant workers' immigration regularization program to protect workers from deportation and improve access to public services such as healthcare.” (press release)
🇨🇺 Cuba
“Mexico’s government announced on July 16 that Cuba will send the country 2,700 doctors to help mitigate shortages of healthcare specialists in Mexico (Reuters). Mexico currently has 950 Cuban doctors working in the country to help improve access to care in underserved areas,” notes CEDA’s US-Cuba News Brief, explaining that “the U.S. State Department and Spain-based NGO Prisoners Defenders both claim that Cuban doctors do not receive adequate compensation. The U.S. government has also raised concerns over forced labor and worker’s rights of Cuban doctors abroad. Cuba has previously sent doctors to Mexico, including during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
UNDP published 3 reports on climate-related migration in Latin America and the Caribbean: (1) mapping climate mobility hotspot risks, (2) a strategic approach to adaptation and resilience, and (3) a review of mobility-related provisions in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Action Plans (NAPs).
🇲🇽 Mexico
Boom highlights Mexico’s role as a country of transit in a photo essay.
Borders and Enforcement
🌎 Regional
“Libyan authorities have arrested the commercial director of a private airline headquartered in the North African country on allegations of facilitating the smuggling of migrants internationally. Ghadames Airlines is alleged to have transported hundreds of people to Nicaragua, from where smugglers are believed to have organized further journeys to the USA,” reports InfoMigrants.
On a similar note, “The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions Thursday on a man from Sierra Leone for allegedly smuggling thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa into the United States,” reports AP.
🇵🇦 Panama
“Panama's government expects to start deportation flights for migrants who crossed the country's dangerous Darien jungle in two to three months,” reports Reuters.
“Panama's new president on Thursday ruled out forcibly repatriating US-bound undocumented migrants who make the dangerous jungle crossing from Colombia, in an apparent softening of his stance,” says AFP.
Panama has deployed the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) and the National Border System (Senafront) to patrol along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts near the Darien Gap, reports Menafn.
“Migration has fallen (for now) at the Darien Gap following the implementation of 3 miles of barbed wire fencing and new efforts to halt migration by the Mulino government inaugurated July 1st. (AP)” (via Latin America Daily Briefing; see AMB 7/8/24)
🇨🇼 Curaçao
The Caribbean Netherlands Coast Guard intercepted a boat with 42 Venezuelan migrants attempting to reach Curaçao. (Crónicas del Caribe)
🇵🇪 Peru
“The Peruvian National Police (PNP) has stepped up operations against illegal immigration on the northern border, following the entry into force of the standardization of requirements for Venezuelan citizens seeking to enter the country.” (Perú21; see AMB 7/1/24)
🇨🇱 Chile
Members of Chile’s National Renewal (RN) party are calling for the country to temporarily suspend the processing of applications for entry to Chile from 13 countries, alleging that this will help address violence and insecurity. The countries are Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Peru, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. (La Tercera)
🇺🇸 United States
The 287(g) program for cooperation between the federal government (often ICE) and state and local law enforcement does not necessarily make communities safer, according to Immigration Impact: “close cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities is often problematic. When local law enforcement agencies begin arrests that end up in removals, immigrant communities are less likely to seek help when they become victims of crime. When immigrants don’t report crimes out of fear of deportation, it makes communities and all their residents less safe.”
More on Migration
🇻🇪 Venezuela
“Millions of Venezuelans living abroad will be unable to vote in upcoming presidential election,” just one of the methods being employed to unjustly move the needle on the July 28th election between Nicolás Maduro and Edmundo González. (The World)
If Maduro wins re-election, “as many as one-third of Venezuelans would consider migrating,” reports The New York Times.