Americas Migration Brief - June 10, 2024
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🇬🇾 Guyana
With a history of ethnic tensions, new immigration from Venezuela and other countries offers potential challenges if not managed and integrated effectively, argues Lear Matthews in an op-ed at Stabroek News covering wide-ranging topics related to migration in Guyana.
“The inclusion of Spanish-language classes in the Education system is significant as a regional demographic strategic approach to enhance cross-cultural communication. The establishment of the Intercultural Bilingual Program in Southern Rupununi region is credited with appropriately responding to this challenge,” writes Matthews.
Check out February’s special edition of the AMB on misperceptions about Venezuelan migrants in Guyana.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
A Nicaraguan migrant living in Costa Rica was allegedly murdered by his neighbor because of xenophobia, reports Confidencial, detailing a history of discriminatory insults and aggressive behavior.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Mexican federal immigration authorities said Thursday they have cleared one of Mexico City’s largest downtown tent encampments of migrants,” reports AP.
🇨🇱 Chile
“In 2013, of the 39,542 firms that were created, only 3.1% belonged to foreigners. Ten years later, this proportion reaches 11.4%,” reports Diario Financiero, highlighting migrant entrepreneurship in Chile.
🇨🇴 Colombia
A Universidad del Rosario Bitácora Migratoria report looks at the 3 years of implementation of Colombia’s ETPV regularization process, which gave legal status to over 2 million Venezuelan migrants in the country. The report also notes worsening food insecurity among migrants.
An El Barómetro report explores xenophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric at a regional level in Colombia.
“For these people fleeing a humanitarian crisis seeking better living conditions, the regularization of their immigration status is the starting point to guarantee their rights: they need access to health, education and decent work,” says Fundación Ideas para la Paz, highlighting concerns about Venezuelan migrants’ struggles to integrate in Colombia and noting, “There are even regions where the Temporary Protection Permit (PPT) is not recognized as a valid document to access goods and services, which poses enormous challenges for migrants, in addition to frustration and disappointment, leading them to consider other options outside of Colombia.”
🇵🇪 Peru
A Plan International report explores access to protection and sexual and reproductive health services for Venezuelan migrants in Lima, noting the role of perceptions of discrimination in limiting access.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Not knowing the Portuguese language impedes integration for migrants in Brazil, explains MigraMundo, highlighting the impact on daily communication, access to essential services, and labor market insertion.
🇨🇼 Curaçao
Official census records show a “significant increase” in the Venezuelan population in Curaçao, although these figures remain below R4V’s estimates. (Crónicas del Caribe)
🇺🇸 United States
“A bill that would address a gap that has denied citizenship to tens of thousands of now-adult foreign-born adoptees has been introduced in Congress, reports No Kyung-Min of The Korea Herald. Around 49,000 adoptees are at risk of deportation due to a current restriction, and approximately 20,000 of them are Korean. The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024 could mean a permanent solution to anxiety around their status in the U.S.,” reports National Immigration Forum’s The Forum Daily.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
Honduras was the only country in the Americas (and only non-African country) highlighted by NRC in their top 10 “most neglected displacement crises in 2023,” as noted by Forced Migration Current Awareness. Criterio dives further into the issue of internal displacement in the country.
“Conflict dynamics in Colombia have changed since the 2016 peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but the same regions and communities continued to report the highest internal displacement figures in 2023. Based on government data, more than half of the internal displacements associated with conflict and violence took place in the Pacific region, where African-Colombian and indigenous communities continued to be disproportionately affected,” according to an IDMC spotlight on internal displacement in Colombia.
I highlighted the challenge of internal displacement across the Americas in a special edition of the AMB last month, featuring new IDMC data.
🇨🇱 Chile
“Authorities from the Colchane Mayor's Office reported the tragic death of a 23-year-old Bolivian migrant… in a cell at the Carabineros police station in northern Chile,” reports La Patria.
🇵🇦 Panama
“The Panamanian government’s human rights ombudsman filed a criminal complaint about more than 400 alleged cases of sexual violence perpetrated against migrants in the Darién Gap region. Before Panama’s Health Ministry suspended its permission to operate in March, Doctors Without Borders had been documenting these cases.” (EFE; via WOLA)
🇯🇲 Jamaica
“Human rights group Stand Up for Jamaica is calling for the government to urgently intervene to protect the rights of Haitian refugees and ensure that they are treated with dignity,” reports Radio Jamaica News, highlighting concerns that currently detained Haitian asylum seekers “have not been able to access” their lawyers.
🇨🇦🇲🇽 Mexico and Canada
With the support of Canada, UNHCR will contribute to the digital transformation of Mexico’s asylum system and the “establishment of a multi-service centre that will provide comprehensive services,” notes UNHCR, highlighting the record number of asylum applications Mexico received last year.
🇺🇸 United States
A new proclamation and interim final rule by the Biden administration “bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. These actions will be in effect when high levels of encounters at the Southern Border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today. They will make it easier for immigration officers to remove those without a lawful basis to remain and reduce the burden on our Border Patrol agents,” according to a White House fact sheet. The measures target those who enter between ports of entry—with some exceptions—when the average daily number of migrant encounters in a week reaches at least 2,500. American Immigration Council, National Immigration Forum, and WOLA wrote up Q&As on the decision.
Advocates have sharply criticized the move. WOLA’s Adam Isacson compiled much of the relevant news and reactions related to the decision here and in his Weekly Border Update (see below).
UNHCR expressed “profound concern” about the measures in a press release.
The ACLU announced that they would sue to block the policy. Per a press release, “the ACLU and partners successfully challenged an asylum ban by the Trump administration that took the same approach as the Biden administration.”
“A hoped-for reduction in future crossings does not justify refusing protection here and now to people who would otherwise be entitled to it—especially when diplomatic and resource constraints limit the government's ability to execute its own plan,” according to an American Immigration Council fact sheet that includes analysis of operational capacity limitations.
“The main problem for the White House is that Republicans have blocked billions in funding that would have helped enforce the order,” says New York Times.
Mexico “is unlikely to be able to indefinitely absorb the burgeoning numbers of migrants that are reaching its southern border while also receiving increasing removals from the U.S. under the new executive order,” according to Emerson Collective’s Immigration Update. (see more on US-Mexico cooperation below)
“At least four people have died crossing the US-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, amid the searing heatwave gripping the south-west,” reports The Guardian.
The US “should urgently designate the DRC for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)” amid the country’s “multiple armed conflicts, unprecedented flooding, and a dire humanitarian situation,” says Daniel Levine-Spound at Just Security.
“In 2023, only 56 percent of unaccompanied migrant children defending their cases in U.S immigration court had attorneys representing them, ABC News noted. The immigration court system does not guarantee a right to counsel, even for parentless children, so “minors are left to navigate the different avenues of relief alone, fill out documents in a foreign language, and argue their case before a judge.”” (ABC; via WOLA)
“Under a Second Trump Term, the DHS Will Be Even Harsher Than Before: Project 2025 lays out a vision of a new immigration enforcement agency that will be more effective than ever in deporting, detaining, and denying entry to immigrants.” (The Nation)
Hope Border Institute published a series of papers in a collection titled “Reimagining the Migration Protection System: Critical Reflections from the Border”
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, diving into the Biden administration’s restriction of access to asylum, as well as explaining that Mexico has received far fewer asylum applications thus far this year in comparison to 2023.
🇨🇼 Curaçao
“Human rights organizations state that there is still no migrant policy and there is no structural consultation with human rights organizations,” in addition to concerns that “conditions in detention centers are substandard,” reports Curacao.nu.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
DW explains the Cartagena+40 process and consultations to develop a plan of action amid the celebration of the 40 year anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration, which expanded access to protection and refugee status in Latin America.
St. Lucia has joined Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, and St. Kitts and Nevis in signing a memorandum of agreement harmonizing the region’s citizenship by investment (CBI) programs. (IMI)
Italy has denied reports that they and Greece would resettle hundreds of migrants from Latin America through the Safe Mobility Office (SMO) initiative, reports InfoMigrants. However, “In an official note on May 31, the Italian government said it could take around 20 Venezuelans of Italian origin under a deal with the US, which would in turn shelter some migrants currently in Libya who want to travel to Europe.” (see last week’s AMB)
🇲🇽🇺🇸 United States and Mexico
“Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his country is seeking an agreement for the US to deport asylum-seekers and migrants to their countries of origin instead of Mexico,” reports CNN.
In addition to receiving Mexican returnees, “Mexico has an agreement to take up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela per month, in addition to people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to officials.” (San Diego Union-Tribune)
The New Yorker dives deep on US-Mexico cooperation on migration (and enforcement) both under the Biden and Trump administrations, reporting that current Mexican foreign minister Alicia Bárcena “is more concerned with matters of principle and perception” in comparison to her predecessor, Marcelo Ebrard, who held the post while Trump was in office and during part of the Biden administration, and has altered her approach accordingly. Furthermore, the Biden administration has used a less heavy-handed approach in cooperation than Trump and has sought to broaden the agencies and actors involved in dialogue. Despite the shared rhetoric on addressing root causes from both the current US and Mexican government, both spend far more on their enforcement efforts, according to the article.
🇨🇴🇺🇸 United States and Colombia
US and Colombian officials took part in a high level dialogue that included discussion of migration management, among other topics. (joint statement)
Labor Migration
🇺🇸 United States
A CGD working paper “investigates the link between Southwest US border crossings and labor market tightness, measured by the job openings to unemployed ratio, over nearly 25 years (2000–2023). Analyzing monthly data, it finds a strong positive correlation, suggesting that increased border crossings align with greater job availability… The findings suggest a natural economic adjustment mechanism in which crossings naturally decrease as the labor market cools.” (see also related blog post)
🇨🇦 Canada
A new pilot program for migrant workers in the home care sector will provide permanent resident status upon arrival, reports Canadian Immigrant.
CBC highlights calls for an end to temporary labor migration programs and a shift towards permanent residency upon arrival.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
An ILO paper characterizes labor migration context, legal frameworks, and programs in the Dominican Republic.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
“The internationalisation of the influx through the Darién has been sudden and is putting pressure on aid groups and governments to adapt to the specific needs these new migrants have. Their lack of Spanish language skills and different cultural mindset often put them at even greater risk than Latin American migrants,” says The New Humanitarian, noting the role of conflict and climate changes in driving extracontinental migration and highlighting the difficulties of language barriers. Furthermore, “They are also more vulnerable to corrupt security forces and criminal groups, especially as the police and the cartels know they tend to travel with more money.”
There are 7.77 million Venezuelans in the diaspora, including 6.59 million in Latin American and Caribbean countries, according to R4V’s latest map of the region.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
“Transit in the Dominican Republic for Haitian nationals with American visas is becoming increasingly problematic. Upon arrival at Dominican airports, these travelers are refused access to Dominican territory without even being able to collect their luggage,” reported VBI last month.
A World Bank report explores climate-related internal and international migration in the Dominican Republic. In addition to a qualitative case study focused on the municipality of Restauración, a quantitative model finds that “Depending on the scenario, the average estimated number of internal climate migrants range between 149,000 to 368,000 for the period 2020-2050 (1.2- 2.8 percent of the country’s population).”
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
“The Nicaraguan opposition-aligned investigative media outlet Onda Local identified some of the officials directing a thriving human smuggling route through Nicaragua, which does not require visas for most visiting nationalities. It alleges that the director of Air Transportation of Nicaragua’s Civil Aeronautics Institute, Róger Martínez Canales, “has the task of collecting the ‘fee’…from the money generated by human trafficking, which amounts to several million dollars, since for each migrant a sum of between $5,000 and $10,000 is charged then distributed among those involved, the airlines and international companies indirectly involved in the business.”” (Onda Local; via WOLA)
“An Inter-American Dialogue slide presentation cited “1145 charter flights of at least 150 passengers en route to the Mexico-US border” landing in Managua, Nicaragua between July 2023 and January 2024.” (presentation; via WOLA)
Borders and Enforcement
🇵🇦 Panama
From April 2023 to May 2024, Panama’s “Operation Shield” conducted 740 deportations and 203 expulsions, reports Telemetro.
🇰🇾 Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands’ “Cabinet has voted to approve $2.4 million in new funding for a “detention facility” capable of housing more than 300 “irregular migrants” – government’s term for the mostly Cuban refugees arriving in Cayman by boat,” says Cayman Compass.
More on Migration
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among mothers are “positively associated with adolescent migration aspirations” in Nicaragua, according to a paper at International Migration, adding that adolescents' ACEs are not associated and that “girls are more likely than boys to aspire to migrate.”