Americas Migration Brief - March 4, 2024
Welcome to the Americas Migration Brief! If you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing with a friend or colleague.
Se puede acceder aquí a una versión en español del boletín traducida por inteligencia artificial.
Consulte aqui uma versão em português do boletim traduzida por inteligência artificial.
Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
A SSRN paper explores the relationship between Venezuelan migration and souring migration attitudes, finding that “anti-migrant sentiment (is) a national-level phenomenon, divorced from local experiences with migrants… Overall, we do not find any evidence that being exposed to a higher migrant share at the regional level worsens migrant acceptance.”
An IDB-OECD-UNHCR paper reviews the data on the integration of displaced migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean.
An ILO paper issues recommendations to support the integration of displaced migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean.
🇬🇾 Guyana
Venezuelans make up close to 3% of Guyana’s total population, but represent just 1% of the country’s male prison population. “Contrary to some perceptions, Venezuelan immigrants in Guyana have not, and do not, pose a security threat to the country. The available data shows they commit crimes at lower rates than their share of the total population, and there is no substantiated reason to believe they represent a hidden threat to the country’s borders and sovereignty,” I wrote in a special edition of the AMB last week about how Guyana and Venezuela’s border controversy has “created real impacts on narratives surrounding Venezuelan migration in Guyana, mirroring social cohesion issues and (mis)perceptions of migrant criminality seen elsewhere across the Americas.”
🇺🇾 Uruguay
“In a hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Uruguayan State committed this Friday to modify the legislation that separates nationality from citizenship and that generates conflicts in migrants who are legal citizens of the country but are not recognized as Uruguayans,” reports El Observador.
🇲🇽 Mexico
Milenio and VOA highlight the integration of Haitians choosing to stay and integrate in Mexico and the challenges and opportunities they face.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
“Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans have inhabited the northern border mile of Costa Rica since the beginning of the 20th century, dedicating themselves mainly to agriculture and leading a peaceful and unaltered life, rooted from generation to generation, until a presidential decree in 1994 turned the area into a wild refuge. This decision has led to their exclusion and has left them vulnerable to eviction from their homes,” says Confidencial.
🇺🇸 United States
Bloomberg breaks down the data of where new migrants are living in the US, noting that “New Migrants Made Up More Than 2% of People in Some Counties,” including in Denver, Miami-Dade, Queens, and Bronx counties.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
“Communities from the region under imminent threat from rising sea level, floods and other extreme weather were scheduled to testify in Washington (on Thursday) before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “a first-of-its-kind hearing on how climate catastrophe is driving forced migration across the Americas,” reports the Guardian.” (via Latin America Daily Briefing)
Animal Político highlights the comments from civil society, noting, for example, that Haitians in the Bahamas denounced a lack of support for their (already displaced) community after the devastating Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
“The Coalition of Caribbean Civil Society Organisations, supported by the Global Strategic Litigation Council, submitted an amicus brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in response to the Request for an Advisory Opinion from Chile and Colombia on Climate Change (Global Strategic Litigation Council)” (via Just Caribbean Updates)
A paper at Oxford Academic explores the role of the Inter-American Human Rights System for migration policy and law, noting, “most States in the region have adopted increasingly protective internal normative frameworks, and IAHRS standards have influenced the judicial and constitutional work of the States of the region. In some cases, national courts and national normative frameworks have set standards that go beyond those established by the IAHRS. However, significant challenges remain concerning the transformative impacts linked to the gap between the regulation and its implementation and the still incipient role of national courts in defending the rights of migrants in the region.”
“A harrowing, in-depth report from Quinto Elemento Lab described criminal organizations’ trafficking of Honduran women in the dangerous southern Mexican border town of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, and the complicity of Mexican and Honduran government officials.” (via WOLA)
“UNHCR launches manual on the design of shelters and emergency accommodation for forcibly displaced people in the Americas” (UNHCR)
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
“A member or members of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG) are now facing disciplinary procedures over claims of sexual exploitation of a Venezuelan woman held at the Chaguaramas Heliport for illegal entry to Trinidad… The Caribbean Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) had highlighted public reports of the sexual abuse of female detainees at the heliport,” reports Newsday.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Much of Brazil’s Acre state is in a state of emergency as over 11,000 have been displaced by floods, explains Colabora.
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
“UNHCR has identified that, between 2018 and June 2023, 935,065 people had left Nicaragua; among them 874,641 were asylum seekers and 60,424 had obtained refugee status… The number of Nicaraguans having fled the country since 2018 corresponds to almost one in eight of the Nicaraguan population,” notes a UN Human Rights Council report.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Two Ecuadorian migrants died after a driving accident in Costa Rica. “The accident occurred on the Medio Queso River, which is part of a poorly maintained route used by human traffickers to move migrants to blind spots on the border line,” says La Estrella de Panamá.
Refugee applications in Costa Rica take years to process, with some applicants having to wait until 2040 for their eligibility interview. (Artículo66)
🇯🇲 Jamaica
The Jamaican government “rejected the asylum applications of 37 Haitian refugees who arrived on the island last year,” prompting outcries. An appeal is set to be made. (Radio Jamaica, Gleaner, Observer)
🇨🇺 Cuba
“More Than 800 Cuban Migrants Have Died Or Disappeared In The Last Decade” (El Toque)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“A Mexican government crackdown has left about 800 migrants stranded in a tent encampment along the Suchiate River, at Mexico’s border with Guatemala near Tapachula. “People are being forced to wait up to seven days to get answers from the INM [Mexico’s migration agency] and be transferred to Tapachula or Tuxtla Gutierrez,” the capital of Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas, read a statement from local human rights defenders. “During this time, they do not receive any type of assistance.”” (CDH Fray Matías; via WOLA)
🇺🇸 United States
Reps. Espaillat and Ocasio-Cortez “along with nine other original cosponsors, introduced the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act (H.R. 7371), which would grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to over 300,000 Ecuadorians in the U.S. who have fled the current mass outbreak of gang-related violence in Ecuador to seek safety for their families.” (press release)
“The Biden administration is on track to resettle an estimated 93,000 refugees this year, short of its 125,000 cap but higher than any year since 1995,” explains Austin Kocher at his Substack.
“USCIS just announced they'll consider re-parole applications from Ukrainians who came through Uniting for Ukraine. Some parolees are reaching the end of their current 2-year grant. Re-parole applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis,” notes MPI’s Julia Gelatt on Twitter.
Strained budgets for the border are limiting the implementation of policies meant to “weed out” weak asylum claims: “Asylum officers were instructed nearly a year ago to apply a higher screening standard on those who cross the border illegally after passing through another country, such as Mexico, but they are too understaffed to have much impact,” reports AP.
Mother Jones highlights the current situation of migrant families separated under the Trump administration, noting that for those that have managed to be reunited, many are still in “legal limbo.”
“After more than a year, CBP One application users still report a number of challenges. The first challenges are related to accessibility, as asylum seekers need to be literate, speak one of the application’s three languages (English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole), have access to a cell phone with either cell or internet service, and have basic knowledge of the application. If these hurdles are surmounted, the next set of challenges center around the application’s registration process. Despite numerous updates, some asylum seekers continue to report error messages. Yet, the most pressing issue continues to be that the number of daily appointments is less than the number of waiting individuals. This means that individuals may wait for up to several months before receiving an appointment,” notes a Strauss Center’s February asylum processing report.
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, highlighting Biden and Trump’s respective visits to the border last week.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
Chile hosted a regional meeting as part of the process for the 40th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. (press release)
Guatemalan, Mexican, and US officials met last week to discuss migration. “The delegations committed to expand access to labor mobility pathways as a strategic response to migration challenges in the region… (and) also committed to establish an operationally focused trilateral working group which will work to improve security, law enforcement, processes, and infrastructure along their international borders,” among other agreements. (press release, remarks)
Mexico will also co-host in May—alongside Colombia and IOM—a Summit on Labor Migration Pathways.
More than 12,700 migrants have been processed—from more than 147,000 total applications—through the US Safe Mobility Offices for regional processing in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala, including 5,900 that have already arrived in the US, notes VOA.
Wall Street Journal investigated the halt in deportations to Venezuela from the US and Mexico, explaining, “the halt in Venezuelan deportation flights isn’t a formal measure. Instead, Venezuelan diplomats are obstructing the departure of flights by failing to verify the citizenship of those identified for deportation, a process that guarantees that those sent to Venezuela are Venezuelans.”
WSJ also notes, “Deportees flown back to Venezuela have been held for days for background checks and health examinations at a secluded hillside shelter outside the capital, where roads are blocked off by the National Guard, according to family members and lawyers representing deportees. The families asked not to use their names because they said their deported relatives had to sign a document upon entry to Venezuela prohibiting them from speaking publicly about their experience. The penalty for talking is a possible charge of treason, they said.”
🇻🇪🇲🇽 Mexico and Venezuela
“The governments of Mexico and Venezuela signed an immigration repatriation pact. In a statement, the Venezuelan government indicated that they ‘signed a comprehensive migration agreement through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria,’” reports El Universal.
🇲🇽🇺🇸 United States and Mexico
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican ally of former president Donald Trump, has called for a reintroduction of the “Remain in Mexico” policy and has asserted that “Mexico will do what we say.” (The Hill)
🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands
BVI has approved a new immigration policy that “addresses issues including the length of time required for being eligible for Residence and Belonger Status, the establishment of guidelines and criteria governing the award of status by Cabinet, and the process for determining quotas. Moreover, other issues addressed include children’s path to Residence Status and Children Born in the BVI to Non-Belonger Parents.” (press release)
Labor Migration
🌎 Regional
An ILO paper explores labor migration across Latin America and the Caribbean, identifying key corridors and noting increased labor migration pathways to the US and Canada in recent years.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
“More than 68,400 migrants have crossed the Darién gap so far this year — about 22.673 more than in the same period in 2023, according to Panamanian authorities.” (EFE; via Latin America Daily Briefing)
AP highlights Senegalese migration to the US via Nicaragua.
An IOM report looks at data and permits related to migration in South America, particularly through the Mercosur bloc.
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Migration toward the United States through the perilous jungle known as the Darién Gap returned to normal on Friday, with hundreds of people from Venezuela, Ecuador and beyond entering the jungle following a roughly five-day pause in which migrants could not begin the trek. The pause in this increasingly large migration flow was the result of an arrest operation led by the Colombian prosecutor’s office,” reports New York Times.
“The captains of the boats must now ensure that the migrants—people from as near as Venezuela and as far away as China—have filled out transit documents on a Colombian government online app before boarding for transport across the Gulf of Urabá,” says Wall Street Journal.
New York Times highlights the role of the Bogotá airport as a layover for African migration to the US via visa-free Nicaragua, noting that although the route is safer than making the trek through the Darien Gap, it has its own problems, too: “Some have been stranded for weeks, or forcibly turned back.”
🇧🇷 Brazil
9 in 10 Venezuelan migrants surveyed by Caritas and partners while arriving to Brazil in Roraima state intend to travel to another part of Brazil (primarily in the south), with 74% having begun the interiorization process.
Borders and Enforcement
🌎 Regional
Both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands conducted deportations of irregular Cuban migrants in recent days. (14ymedio)
🇨🇦 Canada
Canada is reimposing visa restrictions on Mexico after facing internal domestic pressure over rising asylum applications and external pressure from the US over rising numbers of Mexican arrivals at the US-Canada border. (CBC, see last week’s AMB)
🇺🇸 United States
“A federal judge on Thursday blocked a new Texas law that would give police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S.,” SB4. (AP)
“Border Crackdowns Won’t Solve America’s Immigration Crisis: More walls and police will never be enough to stop migrants from coming to the U.S. for the lower-skilled jobs the American economy needs.” (Wall Street Journal)
More on Migration
🌎 Regional
The Inter-American Dialogue published a report on remittances in Honduras, as well as an article projecting 2024 remittance figures in Central America and Mexico.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
“More and more families emigrate from Ecuador abroad in search of better opportunities, which results in the oldest members of the family being left behind,” notes El País, highlighting the impacts on elderly in Chimborazo province.