North and Central American Task Force on Migration
With countries across North and Central America affected by the large movements of people fleeing violence, corruption, poverty, criminality, and the effects of climate change, regional action on shared challenges is necessary to build lasting solutions. Launched in mid-2021, the North and Central America Task Force on Migration heeded the call to build a regional and comprehensive approach to humanitarian protection and migration management from Canada to Panama.
Created through an initiative of the World Refugee & Migration Council in partnership with MPI, the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, El Colegio de México, and the Inter-American Dialogue, the task force advanced evidence-based recommendations on humanitarian protection, international responsibility sharing, legal pathways for migration, and other key areas of migration management.
The task force was composed of civil society, business leaders, academic researchers, and former policymakers who are examining solutions both to immediate humanitarian demands and underlying economic, security, and governance pressures that impel migrants and refugees to leave their countries of origin.
The Task Force's reports and recommendations are gathered here.
Read the Task Force's Inaugural Statement, in English and Spanish.
Task Force Co-Chairs
- Secretary Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and Honorary Chair, World Refugee & Migration Council
- The Honorable Lloyd Axworthy, Chair, World Refugee & Migration Council, and former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Lic. Mayu Brizuela de Avila, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, El Salvador
- President Laura Chinchilla, former President of Costa Rica
- Dr. Silvia Giorguli Saucedo, President, El Colegio de México
- Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini, Bishop of Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Task Force Members
- Pedro Barquero, President, Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortés
- Allert Brown-Gort, Visiting Professor of international relations, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
- Noah Bullock, Executive Director, Cristosal
- Father Juan Luis Carbajal Tejeda, Executive Secretary, Pastoral de Movilidad Humana
- José Miguel Cruz, Director of Research, Florida International University, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
- Diego de Sola, Co-Founder and Board Member, Glasswing
- Katharine Donato, Director, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
- Fay Faraday, Canadian social justice lawyer
- Rafael Fernández de Castro, Director, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
- Elizabeth Ferris, Professor, Georgetown University, and Vice President of Research, World Refugee & Migration Council
- Jayne Fleming, Leader of Human Rights Team, Reed Smith, and International Project Director, Lamp Lifeboat Ladder
- Fen Osler Hampson, President, World Refugee & Migration Council
- Gina Kawas, Vidanta-Wilson Center Fellow
- Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, Migration Policy Institute
- Helena Olea, Associate Director for Programs, Alianza Americas
- Salvador Paiz, Director, Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA)
- Patricia Perez-Coutts, Chair of the Board, Cuso International
- Guillermo E. Rishchynski, former Canadian Ambassador and Board of Directors, Canadian Council for the Americas
- Allan Rock, President Emeritus and Professor of Law, University of Ottawa, and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations
- Emilio Romano, CEO, Bank of America Mexico
- Ana Mercedes Saiz, Executive Director, Sin Fronteras
- Andrew Selee, President, Migration Policy Institute
- Michael Shifter, President, Inter-American Dialogue
- Eduardo Stein Barillas, former Vice President of Guatemala and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Brian Stevenson, President and CEO, University Partnerships North America, Navitas
- Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj, Visiting Professor, Stanford University
- Beatriz Zepeda, Professor and Researcher, Centro de Estudios Internacionales, El Colegio de México, and former Director, Flacso-Guatemala