Americas Migration Brief - September 16, 2024
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Table of Contents
Integration and Development
🌎 Regional
“Limited and, at times, poor regularization and integration policies in Latin American countries have forced many migrants and asylum seekers into the dangerous Darién Gap,” says Human Rights Watch, exploring policy in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru. (commentary, report)
An El Barómetro report explores narratives surrounding Venezuela’s recent presidential election and migration in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, finding the greatest increase in online conversation in Colombia, among the three cases. Although some narratives supported integration and liberation for Venezuela, others promoted discriminatory and anti-migration attitudes.
A REMHU paper investigates how Latin American newspapers have framed internal migration “crises,” with a focus on when and how migrants are framed in a negative light.
🇨🇱 Chile
Manuel José Ossandón, a senator of the conservative Renovación Nacional party, called for a “massive regularization” and “to recognize the reality” given the numbers of irregular migrants in Chile. (BioBioChile)
🇨🇴 Colombia
Fundación Juntos Se Puede is calling for changes to policies restricting refugee applicants’ access to the labor market. (press release, El Colombiano)
🇧🇷 Brazil
Folha highlights in separate articles the increase of Venezuelan students in schools in the border town of Pacaraima, Brazil and the increase of elderly Venezuelans migrating to Brazil to seek peace in their remaining years—many of them seeking family reunification.
“Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday promised to treat "with great responsibility" and "respect" the increase in Venezuelan migrants that has been detected at the border since the presidential elections in that country,” reports EFE.
“The federal government has the obligation to help take care of the situation of these people. We do not want them to come here and suffer more hardships than they already suffered in Venezuela,” said Lula.
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago is continuing the school registration process for certain Venezuelan migrants in the country, notes Newsday. Just 23 Venezuelan migrants started school earlier this month. (see AMB 8/26/24)
An editorial at Newsday criticizes blame being put on (Venezuelan) migrants for crime in Trinidad and Tobago, noting, “An analysis of official police statistics from 2016 to 2019, published last August and entitled Threats to Trinidad and Tobago’s Security: An Assessment of Venezuelan Immigrants’ Involvement in Crime, found the widespread belief migrants pose a special threat unwarranted.” (see also last week’s AMB)
🇭🇹 Haiti
“The education of over 100,000 school-aged children displaced in Haiti’s Grand South is in jeopardy as the continued surge of violence, particularly in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, has put immense pressure on local communities and their already fragile social services,” says UNICEF.
🇵🇪 Peru
An Encuentros SJM and DRC report explores access to regularization in Peru through the Temporary Stay Permit last year.
An Encuentros SJM and DRC report explores discrimination and barriers to access to public services faced by LGBTIQ+ migrants in Peru.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
“Young people from Nicaragua who have emigrated to Costa Rica face an economic and social reality marked by job and emotional insecurity, according to the study From dreams to challenges: exploring the impacts of migration on the livelihoods of young Nicaraguans in Costa Rica , prepared by the Fundación Sin Límites (FSL),” notes Confidencial.
🇺🇸 United States
“Prominent Republicans including the Trump campaign and JD Vance are sharing false and unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants in an Ohio city are eating pets and local wildlife,” reports The Guardian, noting that racist and xenophobic attacks on social media have targeted Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio that have “helped the economy there with staffing concerns while also stretching the capacity of some services like clinics and schools.”
“Haitian Americans said they fear for their safety after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim during this week's presidential debate about immigrants in Ohio,” notes Reuters, while The Haitian Times has revealed stories of vandalized cars and Haitian families “keeping their children home from school for their safety.” On Thursday, the Springfield city hall received a bomb threat, per Reuters.
Threats of violence and intimidation surrounding migration have been brewing from the Trump campaign and supporters. “Former President Donald Trump intensified his rhetoric on immigration on Saturday, warning that removing migrants from the United States would be a "bloody story" if he's reelected in November,” reported Newsweek last week.
Misinformation about migration has also targeted Venezuelans, too, with claims that in Colorado, Venezuelan gangs are “overrunning apartment complexes in Aurora, which local police and residents deny,” notes Axios. The New York Times explains that the narrative was created by a landlord trying to get out of repairing their buildings.
“A new report highlights the increase in state-level anti-immigrant legislation over the past four years, write Camilo Montoya-Galvez and Fin Gómez of CBS News.” (via National Immigration Forum’s The Forum Daily)
The Border Chronicle singles in on Texas’s efforts to shut down civil society organizations serving migrant communities and “The Authoritarian Playbook.”
“The share of people born outside the United States increased in 2023 to 14.3% from 13.9% in 2022, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey,” the highest percentage in more than a century, notes AP.
Even still, “the immigrant population is increasing but is still below the Census Bureau’s projections made in 2017,” finds Cato.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
“Laura Woldenberg writes in Boom about how escort platforms exploit the vulnerability of migrant women in Mexico and Latin America, perpetuating a cycle of abuse and violence that few face or acknowledge,” notes Jordana Timerman at Latin America Daily Briefing.
The US Coast Guard rescued 11 Haitian migrants stranded on an uninhabited island in the Mona Passage after attempting to migrate at sea. (Observer)
🇵🇦 Panama
“At least 19 "seriously ill" migrants, including minors, from Venezuela and Asian countries have been evacuated from beaches in the Panamanian Pacific, near the border with Colombia, where they were with a group of more than 100 people stranded for weeks, Panamanian authorities reported on Monday.” (EFE)
🇧🇷 Brazil
Following a request from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Brazil’s Federal Police will investigate the death of a Ghanaian immigrant who died after becoming sick while stranded at Guarulhos Airport. (Metrópoles)
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Asylum applications in Mexico so far this year have fallen by 48% compared to the same period in 2023, according to data from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar) announced on Monday during the presentation of a digital tool to speed up procedures for refugees,” reports EFE.
On September 10th, El Toque reported that the implementation of Mexico’s plan to bus migrants with CBP One appointments from the south of the country to the north “has been slow and chaotic.” (see last week’s AMB)
“The late August expansion of the CBP One smartphone app’s geographic coverage to Mexico’s two southernmost states has saturated migrant shelters in Chiapas and Tabasco, La Jornada reported. The director of Tapachula’s El Buen Pastor shelter said that she is now serving 2,000 migrants per day, up from 600 to 700 before August 23, when people could begin using CBP One from Chiapas.” (via Daily Border Links)
Civil society “are warning of an increase in post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) among migrants stranded on Mexico's northern border due to cases of kidnapping, abuse and exploitation they experience when crossing Mexican territory,” notes EFE.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
“Between January and July 2024, Costa Rica received 11,023 asylum applications from Nicaraguans, 9,280 fewer than those received in the same period of the previous year,” reports La Prensa.
🇬🇹 Guatemala
Guatemala presented an update to the National Protocol for the Reception and Care of Migrant Children and Adolescents, looking to promote the protection of migrant and returnee minors. (AGN, press release)
🇺🇸 United States
“U.S. President Joe Biden's administration plans to keep its target of accepting 125,000 refugees next year, according to an internal report,” reports Reuters, adding, “ The Biden administration is on pace to bring in 100,000 people through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in fiscal year 2024.”
“The two new reports detail a broad range of abuse and mistreatment experienced by children along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and California in 2023 and 2024, including being subjected to hunger, being pushed, kicked, and punched by federal agents, brandishing of weapons to instill fear, lack of access to hygiene products, lack of access to medical care, and verbal abuse, including use of vile language and threats to deport children. The inhumane conditions and abuse children experienced in Border Patrol custody are violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the Flores Settlement Agreement, and other applicable law,” per a press release from the Florence Project. (reports 1 and 2)
WOLA highlights “the use of excessive force by Texas police and national guardsmen against civilians at the borderline. Actions committed along the Rio Grande, which range from firing projectiles at unarmed migrants to physically pushing them back across the border, violate nearly any democratic law enforcement agency’s standards and set a dangerous precedent for civil-military relations on U.S. soil.”
Some individuals are “held in custody for months, or even years, after winning their immigration cases,” reports NPR; “80 immigrant rights groups and legal service providers sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement urging the immediate release of immigrants who have won their cases.”
WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and human rights at the Weekly Border Update, diving into depth on discussion of the border and migration at last week’s presidential debate.
🇨🇦 Canada
A proposal by the Canadian government to “alleviate immigration pressure on Quebec and Ontario by resettling asylum seekers more equitably across the country” is receiving pushback from multiple provincial leaders, reports The Canadian Press.
🇻🇪 Venezuela
Venezuelan migration to Spain has increased slightly thus far this year, representing nearly 40% of asylum seekers in Spain thus far this year. (TalCual, Europa Press)
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
“The framework for Caricom's regional migration policy is now under review by technical experts,” to be followed by review from ministers in November 2024 and then by heads of state in February 2025, reports Newsday, highlighting comments from Caricom’s Sherwin Toyne-Stephenson.
A Mixed Migration Centre report explores the impact of the Safe Mobility Offices (SMO) “set-up by the United States administration in Latin America to offer safe alternatives to irregular migration,” finding that the program—currently in place in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala—is successful but limited in scope.
A statement from a group of civil society organizations calls for greater involvement of civil society in the development of the Declaration and Action Plan of Chile 2024-2034, part of the regional Cartagena+40 Process: “To date, the Chilean authorities have not shared the texts that form the basis of the negotiation with civil society, which makes it difficult to incorporate precise, pertinent and technical contributions and suggestions, based on experience and aimed at strengthening the discussion.”
🇬🇹🇺🇸 United States and Guatemala
“At the Christian Science Monitor, Jody García explored whether the U.S. government’s new tactic of issuing indictments and extradition requests for migrant smugglers in Guatemala might affect smuggling organizations’ “business model.” A top official in Guatemala’s migration agency pointed out that “without international cooperation, arrests like these may not result in much, especially in a country where collaborations between criminal groups and local police are commonplace.”” (via Daily Border Links)
Labor Migration
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
The People's Roundtable, launched by several civil society organizations last year, is calling for Trinidad and Tobago to “develop and implement a migrant worker policy.” (Newsday)
🇱🇨 St. Lucia
The Voice highlights concerns surrounding nurse emigration from St. Lucia.
🇺🇸 United States
Niskanen Center has announced its support for a bipartisan bill that “grants states the authority to waive the two-year foreign residence requirement for educators in rural and Tribal areas,” modeled after a similar program oriented towards retaining teachers in the US on a J-1 visa.
A Baker Institute paper explores data from 3 decades of the TN visa, established under NAFTA for skilled professionals from Mexico and Canada.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
“Panama’s National Migration Service posted on the morning of September 9 that 244,243 people had migrated through the Darién Gap. That means 6,058 people passed through the treacherous region during the first 8 days of September: 757 per day, which is 41 percent more than August’s average of 536 per day.” (via Daily Border Links)
The Guardian highlights the environmental impact of Darien Gap migration, while National Interest addresses “the big businesses and big profits that this kind of migration creates,” including for illicit actors.
🇨🇴 Colombia
“Reporting from the border city of Cúcuta, Colombia, Santiago Torrado of Spain’s El País found no increase in migration from Venezuela following the Nicolás Maduro regime’s false claims to have won July 28 elections. Local authorities, however, are anxiously expecting “a new migratory wave.”” (via Daily Border Links)
Borders and Enforcement
🇲🇽 Mexico
“Since the start of this year, the Mexican government has bused around 10,000 migrants a month to the south, roughly double the figure last year, according to official data obtained by the migrant activist Gretchen Kuhner. Thousands more captured migrants are loaded onto planes or minibuses for the trip,” reports Washington Post, adding, “it’s unclear whether the results are sustainable. The number of migrants camped out in Mexican cities is rising. And advocates and aid workers worry about the human toll.”
🇺🇸 United States
The US sanctioned “senior officials of a European charter flight company for facilitating irregular migration to the United States through Nicaragua,” imposing visa restrictions on the unspecified individuals. (press release, Reuters)
In Nicaragua, “Ortega’s government is also “weaponizing the mass migration of its citizens and those from other countries, making it easier for the latter to use the country as a transit point on their way to the U.S. border, according to Manuel Orozco, director of the migration program at the Inter-American Dialogue,” writes Robert Looney in World Politics Review.” (via Latin America Daily Briefing)