In today’s immigration news: Border crossings lower than expected; WOLA’s reporting; migration from India and South America; more.
Migration usually increases during the spring, but not this year. No one is entirely sure why, but cross-border traffic is declining. Even some shelters in Tijuana, formerly overcrowded, now report being only half-full.
Border crossings are also shifting from one sector of the border to another, perhaps responding to increased enforcement on the Mexican side of the border. Some of that shift is to more remote, rugged, and dangerous areas.
Migration across the Darien Gap has also slowed, according to reports from the Panamanian government.
[WOLA] “Across the U.S.-Mexico border, migration continues a very unusual springtime lull, sinking below the January-March levels, which were already among the lowest monthly migrant encounter totals of the Biden administration.”
The population at migrant shelters in Tijuana has decreased recently, with some shelters half empty.
[Border Report] “Enrique Lucero, director of the Migrant Affairs Office in Tijuana, … believes many migrants have decided to forgo staying at shelters while waiting for CBP One appointments, and instead, cross the border illegally and surrender to Border Patrol agents. …
“The CBP One app makes it possible for asylum-seekers to get appointments to enter the U.S. through a port of entry, and for the most part, begin their legal cases while living in the U.S.
“’They are not waiting for a CBP One appointment,’ said Lucero. ‘They don’t want to wait six months for an appointment.’”
Migration across the Darién Gap declined over the past few weeks.
[WOLA] “Migration appears to be declining fast in the Darién Gap, the treacherous jungle region straddling Colombia and Panama. A brief statement from Panama’s National Migration Service (SNM) reported that the agency registered 8,065 people in the first 11 days of April (probably the first 10 days, as the 11th wasn’t over when the SNM published its statement).
“That would be a daily average of about 800—and on Wednesday, the SNM reported just 485 people. During the first three months of 2024, migration through the Darién Gap averaged 1,200 people per day, which itself was a stark drop from the record 2,643 people who passed through the Darién each day last August.”
Special note: Several of the quotations in this post come from WOLA–the Washington Office on Latin America. I have relied on WOLA for accurate, timely, important news from and about Latin America for more than 30 years. Founded by churches some 50 years ago, WOLA’s history statement says:
“WOLA’s unique mission was to connect policy-makers in Washington to those with first-hand knowledge of the thousands of deaths, disappearances, cases of torture, and unjust imprisonment occurring under the dictatorships of that era.
“WOLA’s role was not to “represent” Latin Americans but to give them access in the United States to those making the policies that had such a profound impact on their lives. This vital collaboration with partners in the region became the hallmark of WOLA’s work.”
As misinformation spews from politicians and propagandists, WOLA maintains the highest standards of reporting and analysis. If you have some spare dimes or dollars, please consider supporting WOLA’s work.
And in other news
Immigrant workers are vital to the U.S. economy. One example of how they fill crucial roles in state workforces: Maine’s lobster industry.
[New York Times] “Maine has a lot of lobsters. It also has a lot of older people, ones who are less and less willing and able to catch, clean and sell the crustaceans that make up a $1 billion industry for the state. Companies are turning to foreign-born workers to bridge the divide.
“’Folks born in Maine are generally not looking for manufacturing work, especially in food manufacturing,’ said Ben Conniff, a founder of Luke’s Lobster, explaining that the firm’s lobster processing plant has been staffed mostly by immigrants since it opened in 2013, and that foreign-born workers help keep ‘the natural resources economy going.’ …
“The new supply of immigrants has allowed employers to hire at a rapid pace without overheating the labor market. And with more people earning and spending money, the economy has been insulated against the slowdown and even recession that many economists once saw as all but inevitable as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in 2022 and 2023.
“Ernie Tedeschi, a research scholar at Yale Law School, estimatesthat the labor force would have decreased by about 1.2 million people without immigration from 2019 to the end of 2023 because of population aging, but that immigration has instead allowed it to grow by two million.”
Adam Isacson explains the potential impact of a Republican bill that is not going to become law in this session of Congress.
[WOLA] “House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee) is to introduce legislation that would make it impossible for asylum seekers released into the United States to board commercial aircraft for domestic flights, unless they have the same identity documents that the general traveling public must present. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is sponsoring similar Senate legislation, the Washington Examiner reported.
“The measure, which is certain not to become law this year, would increase the number of released asylum seekers present in U.S. border cities, as it would complicate their departures to destination cities in the U.S. interior.”
Mexican officials, responding to U.S. pressure, have stepped up enforcement against migrants.
[WOLA] “Mexico usually does not detain migrants for very long, and deportations have been infrequent this year. Instead, security and migration forces have been placing apprehended migrants on buses and sending them further into the country’s south or elsewhere into its interior, away from the U.S. border.
“Mexican media and human rights defenders have reported on some of these operations, and the harsh tactics they appear to involve.
“On April 8, Mexican national guardsmen and immigration agents detained 700 migrants who arrived aboard a freight train in Torreón, Coahuila. “At least 55, including women and children, reported that the agents detained them for several hours, beat them, and stole money, cell phones, and documents before releasing them,” reported La Jornada.”
With immigrant visas in short supply, and even those who are eligible facing 20-year wait times, more Indians are migrating to the United States without visas. Many choose a route through Canada and the northern U.S. border.
[VOA News] “The rise in unauthorized Indian migration has made Indians the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. There were about 725,000 undocumented Indians in the U.S. in 2021, more than from any other country outside the Western Hemisphere, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.
Though many have genuine claims of persecution, experts say Indian asylum-seekers are predominantly economic migrants, drawn by the prospect of a better life in the U.S. …
“Most are relatively well off by Indian standards and hail from Punjab and Gujarat, two of India’s more prosperous states with a long history of immigration to the United States.”
Migration from South America has increased over the past decade, with recent increases coming from Venezuela and Ecuador. About 40 percent of South American immigrants to the United States arrived after 2010.
[Migration Policy Institute] “South Americans first began immigrating to the United States during the Cold War era, when countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Colombia experienced political upheaval, armed conflict, and economic instability. Since then, immigration from the region has continued to be driven by a mix of political, social, and economic crises, exemplified by a massive exodus of Venezuelans since conditions in their country began deteriorating in 2015. …
“In response, the U.S. government has used immigration parole programs to provide legal pathways for some South Americans and others while stepping up returns of those arriving irregularly. Humanitarian parole, a tool increasingly used by the Biden administration, allows recipients to legally enter the United States but provides only temporary residency and no pathway to citizenship. By the end of February 2024, 91,000 Venezuelans had arrived under a specific parole program for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Since 2023, Colombians and Ecuadorians (along with nationals of some Central American and Caribbean countries) have been eligible for family reunification parole programs that allow people who have been approved for a family-based green card to enter and remain in the United States while they await their visa.”
Immigration news 