Americas Migration Brief - June 16, 2025
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
An MPI report analyzes various regularization and temporary protection measures across the Americas and overseas, exploring challenges and recommendations for crafting regularization measures and long-term solutions.
A CLACSO book explores numerous issues related to migration across the Americas, including chapters on Costa Rican migration policy from 2010-2024, efforts to promote migrant rights in Mexico, xenophobic electoral narratives in Andean countries, and responses to promote healthcare access for Haitian migrants.
An ILO report examines migration, social protection, and labor migration governance across Latin America and the Caribbean with a particular focus on the Dominican Republic.
🇬🇾 Guyana
Targeting migrants and low-income Guyanese, a project from University of Guyana and partners looks to promote financial inclusion and the payment and receipt of funds without a conventional bank account. (press release)
🇨🇴 Colombia
The Bogotá 2.0 Initiative has worked to integrate “more than 73,000 refugees, migrants, returnees, displaced persons, and those in vulnerable situations” in the Colombian capital, including more than 67,000 women and nearly 5,000 LGBTIQ+ individuals. Programming included healthcare services and job skills training, among other efforts. (press release)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Mexico’s government has pledged to provide jobs for citizens deported from the US, but recent data shows that barely 4% of the tens of thousands expelled since late January have been matched with employment,” reports Bloomberg, highlighting that a key issue is that the US is increasingly flying deportees to southern Mexico, geographically isolated from greater opportunity and services around Mexico City and the north of the country.
🇵🇾 Paraguay
A Paraguayan government report reviews migration data in the country as of the 2022 census, finding that 75% of the 156,000 migrants in the country are from either Argentina or Brazil. (press release)
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
“Up to 18.1 million people are forcibly displaced due to war, violence and other crises in the Americas, a 6.3% increase year-on-year, according to data from the UN Refugee Agency's (UNHCR) new global report,” explains EFE, noting that Venezuela and Colombia top the charts for displacement in the hemisphere.
A Mixed Migration Centre report investigates protection risks and dynamics faced by migrant returnees heading southbound through the Americas in 2025.
A LERRN study explores refugee leadership in South America in relation to Venezuelan and Haitian displacement.
🇭🇹 Haiti
“Nearly 1.3 million people are now internally displaced in Haiti, a 24 percent increase since December 2024,” finds IOM, adding, “Although nearly a quarter of all internally displaced people are still living in the capital, increasing numbers of people are fleeing to other parts of the country in search of safety. In the North, the number of people forced from their homes has grown by nearly 80 per cent.”
Over half of the displaced are children, and about 1 in 6 of all Haitian children are now internally displaced, notes Save the Children.
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
“In the last month and a half, the Dominican Republic has deported 186 pregnant Haitian women detained in hospitals, 559 in labor, and 648 minors,” reports EFE.
🇭🇳 Honduras
“Honduras has received nearly 300 asylum applications so far this year, an unprecedented figure compared to previous years, where the annual average ranged between 100 and 200 cases,” reports Canal8. Officials believe many of these new asylum seekers were originally migrants in transit en route to the US.
NRC released its annual list of the top 10 most neglected displacement crises in the world, ranking Honduras at #9. NRC notes, “Some 245,000 Hondurans were in the process of seeking asylum during 2024, while at least 100,000 were displaced within the country due to violence. This is likely an underestimate, masking the true scale of the crisis.”
🇧🇷 Brazil
Asylum requests in Brazil increased nearly 10% between 2023 and 2024. (Metrópoles; see also AMB 5/19/25)
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
“Nicaragua breaks ties with UN refugee agency” (Reuters)
🇺🇸 United States
700 Marines were deployed in Los Angeles to respond to protests against the Trump administration’s immigration policy. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct the military to detain or arrest ‘lawbreakers’… The military is generally barred under federal laws from taking part in domestic law enforcement. Granting Noem’s request would likely require the administration to sidestep those laws by invoking the Insurrection Act,” explains San Francisco Chronicle. (see last week’s AMB)
In a similar vein of militarization: “National Guard troops would be used in immigration-enforcement activities, including in "night operations and rural interdiction," as well as "guard duty and riot control" inside detention facilities, according to a memo from the Department of Homeland Security obtained by NPR.” (NPR)
WOLA expresses concern about militarization and politicization of the military in the US. In addition to an uptick in direct action related to migration, WOLA highlights a recent Trump speech “before thousands of reportedly hand-picked soldiers who, with the apparent assent of their commanding officers, cheered attacks on migrants and transgender people and booed legitimate elected officials.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected an unfounded allegation by US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem that she encouraged demonstrations against immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying it is “absolutely false.” (Guardian; via Latin America Daily Briefing)
DHS has begun notifying the 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans that entered the US under the Biden-era humanitarian parole program that their parole is revoked and that they must leave the country. The Supreme Court is allowing the move. (AP, CNN)
A WOLA Q&A examines the impact of Trump’s travel ban on Cubans, Haitians, and Venezuelans.
“Don’t Let Trump Desensitize You to the Horrors of His Latest Travel Ban: The first time Trump did this, we flocked to the airports in protest. This ban is no less racist—and it may even be more dangerous.” (The Nation)
“The State Department intends to use PRM funds to support DHS programs focused on “removal coordination” and “voluntary return.” This shift, from providing protection to enabling removals, is diametrically opposed to the aims of U.S. humanitarian policy,” says CEDA.
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, noting, “The Republican leadership of the House Homeland Security Committee announced that it is launching an investigation into over 200 non-governmental organizations that received federal government money to provide services to migrants, mainly short-term assistance to those released from CBP custody during the Biden administration. Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) accused NGOs of “incentivizing and facilitating illegal immigration” through their humanitarian work, and is requiring them to complete a survey about their services and any advocacy work they have performed.”
🇬🇫 French Guiana
“In Cayenne, Haitian nationals are fleeing the collapse of their country. Faced with excruciating delays in processing their applications, their asylum applications—and their lives—hang in the balance, waiting for an overwhelmed administration,” reports Politis, adding, “French Guiana is the French department receiving the most asylum applications after Paris… Between 70 and 80% of them are from the Haitian community.”
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
“Until now, for Venezuelans residing in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, and Ecuador, where diplomatic relations with Venezuela are suspended and, therefore, lack operational embassies or consulates, the only nearby option for processing their passports was the embassy in Bolivia,” reports Rostros Venezolanos, highlighting that the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Uruguay and reactivation of consular services provides another option despite the generalized lack of access to such services. (see also El Pitazo)
Leaders from Santiago, Chile; Quito, Ecuador; and Manta, Ecuador have joined the Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration, which now includes 8 cities. (press release)
🌎🇺🇸 United States and Regional
“Kosovo said Wednesday it has agreed to a request from the United States to temporarily accept up to 50 third-country migrants a year,” reports AP.
“U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will travel this week to Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala in an effort to boost economic growth and end undocumented immigration,” reports UPI. (see also El Economista)
🇨🇦🇲🇽 Mexico and Canada
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s “‘nation-building’ agenda – the accelerated construction of millions of homes and transportation and energy infrastructure projects – will require unprecedented numbers of skilled-trades and construction workers, many from abroad. It’s an opportunity to forge a migration co-operation agreement with Mexico that could provide the incentives and processes needed to restore visa-free travel” and improve Mexico-Canada relations, writes Doug Saunders at The Globe and Mail.
Labor Migration
🇨🇦 Canada
“The Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) is Canada’s first complementary pathway for refugee labour mobility… Since the EMPP’s inception, candidates have filled labour market needs across the country in in-demand sectors, including health care (more than 30% of total admissions), construction and food service. From 2019 to the end of March 2025, 970 people have been admitted to Canada. To continue meeting labour market needs, the Government of Canada is extending the federal stream of the EMPP until December 31, 2025.” (press release)
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
The Independent investigates the perilous route Egyptian migrants have taken to the US via Central America and Mexico.
A CEJIL brief looks at migration policy, borders, and routes in Central America and Mexico during the first quarter of 2025.
“Panama transports more than 100 migrants by sea to Colombia on their return journey” (EFE; see AMB 6/2/25 for more on southbound return migration)
🇭🇳 Honduras
“Kenia Zerón, a member of the Humanitarian Network for Human Rights in Danlí, El Paraíso, spoke with Proceso Digital and noted that Honduras now faces the challenge of returning thousands of migrants. In that sense, he said that now in the city of Danlí, in the border department of El Paraíso, it is more common to see Venezuelan migrants walking back to their country than transiting to Mexico or the United States.” (Proceso)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Tijuana long served as a gateway for legal and illegal crossings between Mexico and Southern California. But its shelters have now thinned out and migrants have left its streets.” (New York Times)
🇧🇲 Bermuda
A Bermudan government report explores factors driving (and preventing) Bermudan emigration, notes Bernews.
Borders and Enforcement
🇺🇸 United States
“President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities… At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries,” reports AP.
Earlier in the week, Washington Post had reported, “The Trump administration has ramped up investigations of companies suspected of employing undocumented immigrants, directing officials to meet audit quotas for such reviews to accelerate deportation efforts.”
Meanwhile: “Texas won’t force private companies to use E-Verify to check workers’ immigration status, despite leaders’ tough talk” (Texas Tribune)
“Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Trump's second term topped 100,000 this week, as federal agents intensified efforts to detain unauthorized immigrants in courthouses, worksites and communities across the U.S.,” reports CBS, noting that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is calling for the administration to up the daily arrest average from 660 to 3,000 a day. (see also New York Times on tactics and efforts to increase deportations)
“The Trump administration is planning to dramatically ramp up sending undocumented migrants to Guantanamo Bay starting this week, with at least 9,000 people being vetted for transfer,” reports Politico, noting, “That would be an exponential increase from the roughly 500 migrants who have been held for short periods at the base since February and a major step toward realizing a plan President Donald Trump announced in January to use the facility to hold as many as 30,000 migrants.”
“Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen to lows not seen since the 1960s… the Trump administration can rightfully claim that it has secured the border at this time, building on declines that began in early 2024 and accelerated in the second half of the year. The longer-term test, however, is whether this success can be sustained through the administration’s new show of force alone, without the less visible migration management ingredients that led to the quieting border the administration inherited,” explains MPI.
“Changing realities at the border, including litigation that could threaten the viability of some current border policies, will test the Trump administration’s ability to manage migration solely through a deterrence-focused approach. During the first Trump administration, such strategies resulted in short-term declines in encounters but did not provide for sustained lows. In unraveling key policies that contributed to establishing today’s quiet border, the administration is gambling with the possibility of increased irregular arrivals in the future.”
Over 1,400 migrants have been charged with illegally entering military territory along the US-Mexico border, reports AP.
“House Republican Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), alongside Reps. Pete Stauber (R-MN) and Nick Langworthy (R-NY), introduced the Northern Border Security and Staffing Reform Act on June 10, to address supposed security concerns and staffing shortages at U.S. northern ports of entry,” reports Migrant Insider.
“Naming ICE Agents Could Land You in Prison Under New Senate Bill: A Republican-backed law aims to criminalize identifying ICE agents” (Migrant Insider)
More on Migration
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
A Dominican Republic National Migration Institute (INM) report explores migration in the country from 2000-2024.
🇺🇸 United States
“The Trump administration is considering a $1,000 fee for tourists and other non-immigrant visa applicants seeking an expedited interview appointment though government lawyers have raised legal red flags over the plan,” reports Reuters.