Americas Migration Brief - November 4, 2024
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
AtlasIntel and Bloomberg surveyed Argentines, Brazilians, Chileans, Colombians, and Mexicans on a wide range of topics, including immigration. Among their findings, a majority of Chileans (96%), Colombians (68%), and Argentines (65%) believe their respective countries’ immigration policies should be more restrictive, while Mexicans are evenly split between a more restrictive and more open approach. By contrast, 55% of Brazilians favor maintaining the policy status quo. (comparative report)
An ILO technical note explores the valuable role vocational training and skills certification can play for migrants’ integration, including examples of initiatives from across Latin America and the Caribbean.
🇨🇱 Chile
Anti-immigration attitudes are on the rise in Chile, with much of the concern surrounding perceptions of migrant criminality. However, the infamous Venezuelan-origin gang Tren de Aragua is mainly targeting migrants themselves, explains Bloomberg, noting, for example, that “While the number of Chilean victims remains more or less stable, it’s the killing of Venezuelans — more than 700,000 now live in Chile — that is skyrocketing.”
“The recent surge in xenophobia could risk exacerbating the difficulties migrants already face. Those who are undocumented tend to avoid going to the police when they are victims of any assault or extortion. Some end up working for gangs out of fear, and because it offers a source of income for those who don’t always have other job prospects.”
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
The Wall Street Journal highlights the human and economic impacts of the Dominican Republic’s mass deportation campaign, noting “Haitian workers are essential to the Dominican Republic’s economy, forming the backbone for the construction, agriculture and tourism sectors that have helped turn the economy into a darling of Latin America and the Caribbean. Economic growth has tripled the regional average over the past two decades, lifting 2.8 million people from poverty, the World Bank said.”
The new campaign has made Haitian migrants in the country more vulnerable, sending many into hiding. “Critics of the policy against the migrants say the president, who was re-elected in May, is using Haitians to distract from unpopular tax and labor reforms. “Every time there’s an election or some kind of reform in the works, they always use the Haitians as scapegoats,” said Dr. Joseph Cherubin, a Haitian physician who leads Mosctha, a nonprofit that offers medical checkups to migrants.”
The Dominican Republic’s mass deportation campaign is also affecting the lives of Haitian migrants residing in the country legally, reports El Caribe, noting that some remain in fear of indiscriminate detention and that many fear separation from loved ones.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
Some Venezuelan migrants are calling for a permanent residency status in Ecuador, expressing concern about renewals, fees, and the temporary nature of recent regularizations such as the Virte visa. (El Universo)
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
A new campaign with the support of the European Union looks to grow use of Costa Rica’s National Employment System platform, Brete.cr, and improve job placement and employability for both immigrants and Costa Rican nationals. (E&N)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“The population of Venezuelan migrants in Mexico City—many awaiting CBP One appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border—may have increased 13-fold from 2021 to 2023, judging from a municipal welfare agency’s count of the number of people served, Milenio reported. Many are in the central district of Cuauhtémoc, finding work paying about $60-120 per week.” (Milenio; via Daily Border Links)
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
An Inter-American Dialogue technical note explores the growing trend of child and adolescent migration in the Americas and the challenges they face, as well as the dreams they hope for. “It is crucial that governments develop and implement psychosocial support programs to help children and their families manage the stress and trauma of the migration process, promoting their emotional well-being.”
A Baker Institute report investigates “the existing migrant reception infrastructure in San Diego and Tijuana, highlighting the daily work of organizations on the ground seeking to provide adequate and dignified conditions for those trying to reach the United States.” Challenges include “Existence of open-air detention sites on the U.S. side of the border; Lack of sheltering space and increase of migrant street releases in San Diego; [and] Persisting security issues in Tijuana.”
“What Trump’s Plan to Deport Millions of Immigrants Will Mean for Central America: Experts in Central America say mass deportations would be catastrophic for the region—and increase the number of refugees fleeing their native countries.” (The Progressive)
A new SICA report: “Forced migration and food insecurity in contexts of precarious transit and arrival in Panama and Honduras: A framework for regional governance”
🇦🇷 Argentina
Argentina’s new decree to change the Refugee Law is “a serious setback in terms of international protection and that it will not solve the alleged problems that it seeks to solve,” write Ignacio Odriozola and Esteban Scuzarello at Perfil. (see last week’s AMB)
🇭🇹 Haiti
Over 12,600 individuals were displaced by violent attacks in the neighborhood of Solino in Port-au-Prince, per IOM. Solino is (was) “one of the few communities in the Haitian capital not under the control of criminal groups,” according to AP.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
AP highlights the impacts of gang violence and increasing insecurity in Ecuador in driving emigration north to the US, focusing on fishing communities on the Pacific coast.
🇲🇽 Mexico
ProPublica reports on how Mexico’s strategy of busing migrants south “leaves migrants vulnerable to mass kidnapping rings in southern Mexico. The criminal groups collect ransoms and make enormous profits with little risk… Immigrant advocates and migrants say Mexican authorities look the other way. Migrants are held in animal pens on abandoned ranches until they can pay up.”
AP also investigates the journey migrants take through Mexico and the key role organized crime plays, deciding who can advance where and when.
🇨🇱 Chile
Urgente highlights the experiences and challenges faced by Bolivian migrant women in Chile, noting, “numerous cases of trafficking and smuggling of Bolivian women for sexual exploitation have been identified, a problem that has grown due to economic vulnerability and lack of legal protection for migrants. Trafficking networks, often made up of people close to the victims, recruit young Bolivian women through deceptive job offers and promises of a better life, only to subject them to exploitation once they cross the border.” Bolivia and Chile have together signed agreements to improve cooperation, but there is still much to be done, per Urgente.
🇺🇸 United States
“Regardless of who wins the White House in November, the 2024 presidential election is likely to mark the end of the asylum system as Americans have known it, according to interviews with roughly two dozen immigration lawyers, scholars and former federal officials. That system is broken, many critics, supporters and even ordinary Americans said,” reports The New York Times.
That said, the visions of how asylum changes are different: “Mr. Trump, who during his presidency severely reduced the number of refugees and asylum seekers allowed to enter the country, is promising even more drastic actions to curb both legal and illegal immigration if elected again. Ms. Harris has vowed to continue executive measures enacted by President Biden this year that restrict how and where people can apply for asylum at the nation’s southern border.”
MPI and CMS both highlight the Biden administration’s rebuilding of the US refugee resettlement system, which resettled 100,034 refugees in fiscal year 2024, the most in three decades and more than the number admitted in the entirety of the Trump administration. The future of the program will depend on the presidential election.
“A recent survey from the Refugee Advocacy Lab and its partners indicates that getting to know refugees personally increases Americans’ propensity to welcome,” notes National Immigration Forum’s The Forum Daily.
“The U.S. Biden administration deported 77 people to Haiti yesterday, despite the context of increasingly violent gang attacks that have taken over much of the country’s capital, reports the Miami Herald.” (via Latin America Daily Briefing)
BBC highlights the challenges faced by African asylum seekers in the US and their fears of deportation ahead of the US presidential election.
“Texas’ border takeover a factor in migrant, US citizen deaths, activists say: Groups allege razor wire, hostile state troops, highway pursuits contributing to serious injuries, fatalities along Mexican border” (Border Report)
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, reporting some final pre-election notes related to migration.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
“In the face of mounting attacks on Haitian diaspora communities from Springfield to Santo Domingo, immigrants across the hemisphere are coming together to demand protection,” says NACLA.
🇵🇦🇨🇴 Colombia and Panama
The Ombudsman of Colombia and Panama “signed a Letter of Understanding to strengthen binational cooperation in the protection and defense of the human rights of migrants and host communities, especially in the context of the migration crisis in the Darién region.” (press release)
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Mexico and United States
Reuters highlights US-Mexico cooperation on border enforcement and the influence on the US election. Mexican officials speaking anonymously with Reuters attribute Mexico’s increased enforcement activities to US pressure, with the efforts including a busing program that has cost over $65 million since last year.
🇨🇱 Chile
A bill presented by the Boric administration seeks to change various elements of Chile’s immigration and foreign affairs law, “establishing new limits on the entry of migrants and naturalization. It also expands the grounds for expulsion and revocation of residence permits, among other matters,” per a press release.
Labor Migration
🇺🇸 United States
“On the campaign trail, Donald Trump routinely promises he will end illegal immigration. Behind the scenes, his closest advisers and allies are also drawing up plans that would restrict many forms of legal immigration, some of which could affect the ability of businesses to hire foreign workers,” reports Wall Street Journal.
An American Immigration Council special report explores the role of H-2B visa workers in the US, finding that despite increasing demand, the program’s capacity is not keeping up. The analysis includes state- and industry-specific trends. (see related commentary)
🇨🇦 Canada
Quebec has announced its Immigration Plan for 2025, reports Fragomen, explaining that “As part of the plan, it has suspended applications under the Regular Skilled Worker Program as well as the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ),” which are two pathways for permanent residency. (see last week’s AMB about national-level decreases in planned temporary and permanent immigration)
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
After crossing the Darien Gap, migrants heading north are quickly shuttled through the “humanitarian corridor” through Central America, reports Confidencial, following migrants along the path north from Panama to Mexico. Findings include:
In Costa Rica, “According to Arias, from the Jesuit Migrant Service, the buses in the humanitarian corridor have serious deficiencies and lack adequate conditions for long journeys. “It was pointed out that the mechanism is financed by the governments, but it is private concessionaires that provide the service, and it is the migrants themselves who pay for it with their own resources,” he points out.”
In Nicaragua, meanwhile, there is “no official management plan or humanitarian assistance for migrants.”
As of October 31, 21,542 migrants crossed through the Darien Gap in October, a slight decrease from the 25,111 recorded in September. (TalCual)
🇨🇱 Chile
Entries of Venezuelan migrants to Chile have increased since the stolen July 28th elections, reports La Tercera, noting that it breaks a recent trend of more exits than entries of Venezuelan migrants.
🇨🇴 Colombia
La Silla Vacía highlights increasing Colombian emigration, noting that Colombians are heading north to the US or elsewhere abroad because of a difficult labor market at home, lasting impacts of the pandemic and the 2021 protest movement, and increasing violence and armed conflict in certain parts of the country.
🇲🇽 Mexico
“In Mexico’s southern border-zone city of Tapachula, Chiapas, hundreds of people with confirmed appointments at U.S. border ports of entry, made using the CBP One app, are “saturating” the local offices of Mexico’s migration agency (National Migration Institute, INM), La Jornada reported. They are demanding that the agency issue permits allowing them to transit Mexican territory to attend their appointments. It is unclear whether the backlog owes to any changes at INM, which has offered to coordinate protected travel from Chiapas for at least some of those with appointments.” (via Daily Border Links)
“At Mexico’s northern border, the Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Norte reported on a proliferation of “safe houses” where smugglers or kidnappers hold migrants, “packing them in like sardines.” In recent years, the report found, these houses have become more common in more central urban neighborhoods, not just on the city’s outskirts.” (via Daily Border Links)
Borders and Enforcement
🇺🇸 United States
The Washington Post highlights the migrant smuggling business en route to the US, reporting, “For years, prosecutors have complained that they lack even the most basic tools to break up human smuggling rings… several U.S. administrations focused almost exclusively on hardening the border, not disrupting the routes to it.” The Biden administration, by contrast, has reportedly paid more attention to the issue, with efforts including a new task force “to seek out partners in Mexico and Central America and put human smuggling chains out of business.”
“U.S. border authorities apprehended some 54,000 migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in October, according to preliminary figures obtained by Reuters, showing a marginal rise from September but continuing the broader downward trend since June when new restrictions were imposed under President Joe Biden,” reports Reuters.
“Data obtained by the Cato Institute through the Freedom of Information Act… shows that while the Trump administration (2017–2020) was prioritizing prosecutions of migrant parents, separating families, and banning asylum, it also released criminals, including those who went on to commit crimes. Candidate Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda will make the country less safe,” says Cato.
🇵🇦 Panama
“Panama has extended the transit visa requirement for Cuban citizens who must make stops in Panamanian territory until July 2025,” reports ADNCuba.
More on Migration
🌎 Regional
Research by Latin Americans about migration in Latin America is often overlooked as the academy has focused on a Global North perspective about Global North-related migration, writes Dr. Jacques Ramírez G. at IMISCOE; “the results are not published neither in the major journals or in the English language. Ergo, the migratory studies from the South do not exist.”
🇺🇸 United States
ProPublica investigates the impacts of immigration on attitudes along the Texas border, focusing on the story of a local sheriff to show how “the issue is high on voters’ minds and is disrupting long-standing political allegiances.”