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Americas Migration Brief - April 1, 2024
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Americas Migration Brief - April 1, 2024
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| Jordi Amaral |
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| Apr 1 |
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Welcome to the Americas Migration Brief! If you find this newsletter useful,
please consider sharing with a friend or colleague.
Share
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.
Pledge your support
Table of Contents
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Integration and Development
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Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
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Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
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Labor Migration
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Migrants in Transit
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Borders and Enforcement
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More on Migration
Integration and Development
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
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The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association is calling for the
advancement of legislation to improve access to education for migrant children
in the country, noting that “teachers would need additional training and
resources to ensure that they can impart knowledge and the curriculum
effectively to students from a migrant background, who may not have English as
a second language, and need that extra support.” (Guardian)
🇧🇷 Brazil
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The Guardian highlights increasing Indigenous Venezuelan migration to Brazil
and the difficulties the Warao people face in the country, from a lack of
decent housing to little education and economic opportunities.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
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Ecuador’s migrant regularization process, initiated in 2022, will come to a
close this month, reports El Universo, noting that the two-year, renewable
“Virte” visa has been delivered to: 66,534 Venezuelans that had entered Ecuador
at an official port of entry, 24,390 Venezuelans that had entered irregularly,
and 1,200 migrants of other nationalities that entered at an official port of
entry.
🇨🇱 Chile
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Chile is currently developing new regulations for the recognition of titles,
explains InfoMigra, summarizing in another article the proposed minimum
requirements according to the draft policy.
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Chile is “studying” the possibility of a regularization program, per a La
Tercera interview with the head of the National Migration Service, Luis Thayer.
The interview also covers protection and enforcement issues.
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IDB explores the financial inclusion of migrants in Chile, highlighting the
role of Fondo Esperanza, a “comprehensive microfinance service focused on
entrepreneurship in the most vulnerable sectors” that currently serves 5,000
migrants in the country, among others.
🇺🇸 United States
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“Slower growth in the working-age foreign-born population between 2016 and 2022
reduced U.S. real GDP growth by an estimate of up to 1.3 percentage points in
2022. U.S. real GDP (gross domestic product) would have risen by up to an
estimated 3.2 percentage points in 2022 if the working-age foreign-born
population had continued to grow at the same rate it did during the first half
of the 2010s… The “lost,” or foregone, GDP as a result of slower growth in the
working-age foreign-born population after 2015 is equivalent to about $335
billion in 2022 alone,” says an NFAP policy brief.
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Fwd.us highlights further data on the benefits of immigration for the US
economy.
Asylum, Protection, and Human Rights
🌎 Regional
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IRAP and partner organizations outline a “legal action agenda that sets
concrete steps to ensure the rights and well-being of climate-displaced people
in the Americas,” including both internal and international displacement
contexts, as well as “the right to stay.”
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A DRC report explores legal needs to support access to protection in the cases
of Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Honduras.
🇨🇱 Chile
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2 migrants died in seperate incidents last week after attempting to enter the
north of Chile irregularly. (BioBioChile, La Tercera)
🇲🇽 Mexico
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8 Chinese migrants drowned off the coast of southern Mexico en route north from
Guatemala. (Milenio)
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“Ransom kidnappings and other attacks on migrants are worsening at the
Mexico-Guatemala border, especially the central region where the Pan-American
Highway crosses into Chiapas, reported Milenio.” (via WOLA)
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A group of 85 kidnapped migrants has been released, reports Primicias.
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“Ten humanitarian organizations in Mexico City warned of the increasingly
precarious situation of migrants from many countries stranded in Mexico’s
capital. Most are attempting to secure online CBP One appointments at
U.S.-Mexico border ports of entry.” (document; via WOLA)
🇧🇷 Brazil
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Brazil’s Congolese community is calling for a “humanitarian visa that
guarantees family reunification,” says MigraMundo.
🇯🇲 Jamaica
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Jamaica has agreed to take in “children from one orphanage as well as about 53
World Bank employees” from Haiti, reports Radio Jamaica News.
🇦🇷 Argentina
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A paper at Refuge explores “the first private sponsorship scheme to be
introduced into Latin America in the last decade, the Syria Program, which has
been in place in Argentina since 2014,” arguing that “Unlike refugee
sponsorship schemes that have appeared in other countries, the Argentine
private sponsorship program does not complement a public state resettlement
scheme but rather appears to replace it.” (via Forced Migration Current
Awareness)
🇺🇸 United States
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“Guatemala migrant woman dies after 30-foot fall from California border fence”
(UPI)
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“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended and redesignated Burma
(Myanmar) for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)” (Fragomen)
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“President Biden is facing pressure from dozens of lawmakers and hundreds of
rights groups to expand immigration protections for people fleeing extreme
violence from armed gangs in Haiti,” reports Axios, highlighting a joint letter
calling for a new TPS designation for Haitians.
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“So far there are no plans to change course” from the Biden administration,
reports NBC, citing officials.
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“Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, his administration has
greatly expanded the number of immigrants who are eligible for Temporary
Protected Status (TPS),” notes Pew, reviewing the data.
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“A federal judge on Friday sharply questioned the Biden administration’s
position that it bears no responsibility for housing and feeding migrant
children while they wait in makeshift camps along the U.S-Mexico border… The
migrants, who crossed the border illegally, are waiting there for Border Patrol
agents to arrest and process them. The question is whether they are in legal
custody. That would start a 72-hour limit on how long children can be held and
require emergency medical services and guarantees of physical safety, among
other things,” reports AP.
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Ahead of the court hearing, the New York Times had highlighted public health
concerns at such camps in California.
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“Steps Forward. Steps Back: A Year’s Efforts to Combat the Labor Exploitation
of Unaccompanied Children” (USCRI)
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USCIS has reopened a field office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with the aim of
“increasing refugee processing capacity and helping reunite individuals with
their family members already in the United States.” (press release)
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“Last month, (USCIS) released their Fiscal Year 2023 data, showing a reduction
in net-backlogged applications for the first time in over a decade. The backlog
decreased by 15 percent as digitalization and bureaucratic improvements allowed
the agency to process 10 million applications during FY 2023,” says UnidosUS,
noting, “One major factor generating this backlog revolves around the agency’s
inability to secure enough funding to hire more Immigration Officers” and that
“The agency’s reliance on paper-based forms also contributed to the backlog.”
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“Approximately 200,000 deportation cases have been thrown out by Immigration
Judges since the start of the Biden administration because (DHS) hadn’t filed
the required Notice to Appear (NTA) with the Court by the time of the scheduled
hearing… DHS has been able to block off the Court’s valuable limited time by
scheduling hearings for cases that do not legally exist, because DHS has not
filed the required NTA before the hearing. With Immigration Judges staring down
3.5 million pending immigration cases, every wasted hearing is a hearing that
could have moved another case forward or resolved it,” says TRAC, adding that
“immigrants, usually asylum seekers these days, who then show up to scheduled
hearings only to find out they have no case after all are left without any
means of making an asylum claim.”
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WOLA’s Adam Isacson highlights stories related to the US-Mexico border and
human rights at the Weekly Border Update, explaining, “Migration at the
U.S.-Mexico border usually increases in springtime. That is not happening in
2024, although numbers are up in Mexico and further south. Increased Mexican
government operations to block or hinder migrants are a central reason.”
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The impact is particularly strong for Venezuelans: “Mexico reported 56,312
encounters with Venezuelan citizens in January and February—almost 3 times the
U.S. figure. That points to a strong likelihood that the Venezuelan population
is increasing sharply within Mexico right now.”
🇨🇦 Canada
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“Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he has no plans to extend an emergency
visa program for Ukrainians beyond an end-of-month deadline for them to arrive
in Canada… about 300,000 Ukrainians will have arrived in Canada by the end of
March,” reports The Globe and Mail.
Migratory Institutions and Regional and Bilateral Cooperation
🌎 Regional
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Colombia and Ecuador have signed on to the same deal Venezuela has made with
Mexico to accept deportees, with deportees receiving a six-month stipend and
employment assistance. The program, dubbed “Juntos por el Bienestar” (Together
for Well-being), is not expected to launch until the second half of the year,
reports El Universal. (see last week’s AMB)
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Milenio highlights quotes from Venezuelan migrants rejecting the premise of the
program, arguing that the stipend would be insufficient to cover food and that
they can make more money working in Mexico or the US.
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MPI highlights US dependency on other countries’ cooperation, particularly for
border enforcement.
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“While Spain plays an active role in EU debates on migration policy, it also
has increasing cooperation with the United States on shared migration flows
from Latin America. The joint collaboration around the SMOs and labor migration
underscore these growing efforts,” says MPI.
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US “Vice President Kamala Harris and the Partnership for Central America (PCA)
today announced more than $1 billion in new private sector commitments, as part
of Central America Forward (CAF), a public-private partnership that was created
in response to the Vice President’s Call to Action for Northern Central
America.” (fact sheet)
🇺🇸🇬🇹 Guatemala and United States
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Following high-level meetings between the US and Guatemala, new measures have
been announced under the Biden administration’s “Root Causes Strategy” in an
effort to address migration drivers in Guatemala. (fact sheet)
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“Guatemala’s government added its voice to international opposition to Texas’s
S.B. 4 law.” (press release via WOLA; see last week’s AMB)
Labor Migration
🇨🇦 Canada
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“Following a meeting in February between Uzbek Minister of Employment and Labor
Relations Bekhzod Musayev and Canadian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Alan Hamson,
the Agency for External Labour Migration has reported that North American
construction companies are to invite 5,000 citizens of Uzbekistan to work in
Canada,” reports The Times of Central Asia.
Migrants in Transit
🌎 Regional
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“So far this year, more than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Darién, the
natural border between Panama and Colombia… most of those who have crossed into
Panama are Venezuelans (64,307), followed by Ecuadorians (8,198), Haitians
(6,661) and Colombians (6,462),” reports La Prensa Latina.
🇵🇪 Peru
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A paper at Iberoamericana explores the role of “adaptive migration” in response
to climate change in two highlands communities in Peru.
Borders and Enforcement
🇵🇦 Panama
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“The candidate who leads the voting intentions in the presidential elections in
Panama, José Raúl Mulino, is convinced of closing the borders to prevent the
free transit of migrants. His plan, he says, is to deport migrants who transit
irregularly and prevent the Darién, the dangerous Central American jungle, from
being the starting point for hundreds of thousands of people trying to reach
the United States,” reports Crónica.
🇧🇸 The Bahamas
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“The Royal Bahamas Defence Force is reporting an increase in the number of
Haitian migrants intercepted in Bahamian waters. 122 Haitians were picked up on
the weekend off Ragged Island, bringing the total number of migrants picked up
in Bahamian waters over the past two weeks to 369,” reports Radio Jamaica News.
🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos
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“Amidst the ongoing Haiti unrest, the UK will be deploying the warship HMS
Trent to the Turks and Caicos Islands in a show of military support. The move
is meant to bolster TCI’s border security in response to the influx of Haitian
migrants fleeing the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis,” reports TC Weekly
News.
🇨🇦 Canada
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Canada deported 23,000 migrants in 2022 and 2023, reports The Breach, noting,
“It’s the highest level of deportations since 2012,” and arguing, “This flies
in the face of a December 2021 commitment by the Liberal government to
introduce a regularization program that would allow more undocumented people to
stay in the country.”
🇧🇴🇭🇳 Honduras and Bolivia
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“Bolivia and Honduras have signed a reciprocal visa waiver agreement.”
(Fragomen)
More on Migration
🇪🇨 Ecuador
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42% of Ecuadorians want to emigrate, with the majority looking to the US,
reports El Universo, citing a Cedatos survey. Although insecurity is “the
number one problem” in the country, those looking to migrate cite economic
reasons as the leading cause—insecurity has had a profound impact on the
country’s economy, including causing the shuttering of businesses.
🇨🇺 Cuba
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An Inter-American Dialogue report explores remittances to Cuba and the money
transfer market in the country.
🇭🇳 Honduras
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IOM and Honduras’ statistics institute conducted a national survey on
migration—including internal, international, and intentions for future
migration—and remittances between February and March of last year.
🇵🇪 Peru
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A Migraciones Perú report outlines a research agenda for migration in the
country, including several chapters on wide-ranging topics.
🇺🇸 United States
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“Next U.S. census will have new boxes for 'Middle Eastern or North African,'
'Latino'” (NPR)
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“A Record Quarter of a Million International Students Denied Visas, 36 Percent
of Applicants” (Cato)
Any questions or comments? Or just want to connect in general? Write me at
jordi.amaral@xxxxxxxxx. Any and all feedback is welcome!
The AMB's Weekly Briefs are made possible through a partnership with the Center
for Democracy in the Americas. You can check out their work here.
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Washington, DC
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