Latin America and Caribbean Initiative
MPI's Global Program launched the Latin America and Caribbean Initiative (LACI) in 2018 to make sense of a rapidly changing migration landscape and to generate practical ideas for managing diverse mobility while harnessing its benefits. The Initiative combines rigorous, policy-relevant research with direct engagement with decisionmakers to help governments and institutions build functional migration systems that are orderly, rights respecting, and aligned with broader development goals. For more on LACI's work, visit its About page.
Showing 11–20 of 64 results
Facing New Migration Realities: U.S.-Mexico Relations and Shared Interests
U.S.-Mexico cooperation reduced unauthorized migration from 2020 to 2024; lasting progress hinges on legal pathways, regional engagement, and border infrastructure.
The Forgotten Side of Deportation: The Cost of Ignoring Returnees’ Reintegration Challenges
As the U.S. government seeks to ramp up deportations, greater focus should be given to the reception and reintegration of returnees to Mexico and Central America. Despite modest improvements, reception and reintegration programs in these countries have been largely ineffective at improving returnees' long-term conditions—often the same ones that prompted their original migration.
Amid Tariff Threats, Migration Management Is Key to the Evolving Trump-Sheinbaum Relationship
The Trump administration is threatening tariffs on Mexico to achieve migration management aims, as it did in 2019. The landscape is far different in 2025, though. Mexican cooperation is at far higher levels than in 2019 and Mexico is essential to many of the Trump border goals—giving it greater leverage than before. Negotiations that recognize both countries' goals, capacities, and legal frameworks are essential to effective outcomes, this short read argues.
Legal Pathways and Enforcement: What the U.S. Safe Mobility Strategy Can Teach Europe about Migration Management
The Biden administration's ambitious migration management strategy, which combined increased regional cooperation and expanded lawful pathways with a more orderly system for border arrivals, eventually led to a significant drop in irregular migration to the U.S.-Mexico border. The strategy holds promise for governments in Europe also tackling mixed migration flows—however sequencing matters, among other lessons.
The Nascent Architecture for Managing U.S. Border Arrivals Shows Promise
While unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted in 2024, improving on these results requires immigration strategies that go far beyond the border. A new architecture for managing migration implemented over the past three years is fragile but holds promise and represents a necessary direction, this commentary argues.
U.S. Legal Pathways for Mexican and Central American Immigrants, by the Numbers
Family ties, H-2 seasonal work visas, and humanitarian parole are the main U.S. legal pathways for Mexican and Central American immigrants.
Building on Regular Pathways to Address Migration Pressures in the Americas
Despite a rich history of regular immigration pathways, the Americas still struggle with irregular migration. Hemispheric cooperation and reformed mobility agreements are needed.
Translating Principles into Action: Countries Set New Agenda on the Los Angeles Declaration’s Second Anniversary
Two years after signing the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, governments from across the Americas met in Guatemala to assess the state of cooperation in the hemisphere. Working with nongovernmental and international organizations, they also produced an agenda for practical action for the next year, as this commentary explains.
Converging Crises: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in South America
COVID-19 border closures deepened migrants' precarity in South America, excluding millions of displaced Venezuelans from jobs, legal status, and social protections in their host countries.
A Winding Path to Integration: Venezuelan Migrants’ Regularization and Labor Market Prospects
Regularization in Latin America for displaced Venezuelans has opened doors to jobs and services. But informality, weak enforcement, and short permits still limit their full integration.
