E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
Latin America and Caribbean Initiative

Latin America and Caribbean Initiative

MPI’s Latin America and Caribbean Initiative acts as a policy laboratory to develop evidence-based research and innovative, effective policy solutions for the migration challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean.
A map showing Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean highlighted in teal
Once thought of primarily as a region of emigration, countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are confronting new and increasingly complex migration and humanitarian pressures, including the integration of millions of Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers who have fled their country since 2014 and the management of regional migration flows across Central and North America.

The Initiative produces research, trends and policy analysis, and policy design; provides technical assistance; and organizes private convenings and public events to inform the decisions of policymakers, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders as they respond to evolving trends and policy developments.

Current focus areas include legal pathways, immigrant integration, migration and development, and regional cooperation on migration management.

Para leer las investigaciones de la Iniciativa en español, haga clic aquí.

A Haitian child looks over his mother's shoulder in Panama
Commentaries

Addressing the Next Displacement Crisis in the Making in the Americas

The next major displacement of people in the Americas is in the making, and it is going unnoticed. The response to the steady emigration from Haiti seen since a devastating 2010 earthquake has been largely haphazard and may not stand the test of new spikes as the country unravels further. This commentary suggests a way forward, based on a model used for the Venezuelan displacement crisis.

A Venezuelan man holds a passport in front of a sign for Ecuador's regularization process

Featured

Venezuelan displacement has prompted countries across Latin America and the Caribbean to launch policies and programs to register, regularize, and support the integration of arriving Venezuelans. However, the extent to which regular status has helped Venezuelans find work has varied from country to country, as this report discusses.

Migrants in the Darien Gap village of Canaan Membrillo, Panama.
Articles

How the Treacherous Darien Gap Became a Migration Crossroads of the Americas

Passage through the Darien Gap has transformed migration across the Americas. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken the incredibly perilous journey across the remote jungle between Colombia and Panama, risking exposure to hazardous terrain, criminal groups, and other dangers. As this article outlines, governments have struggled to respond to the growing movement, expected to top 500,000 crossings in 2023.

Recent Activity

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Reports
January 2010
Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government's Efforts to Aid Migrants in the United States
By  Laureen Laglagaron
Articles
May 21, 2009
Uncovering the Emigration Policies of the Catholic Church in Mexico
By David Fitzgerald
cover TCM_Zuniga_Paper
Reports
October 2008
Demographic Trends in Mexico: The Implications for Skilled Migration
By  Elena Zúñiga and Miguel Molina
Articles
June 2, 2008
Women Migrants in Detention in Mexico: Conditions and Due Process
By Gabriela Diaz, Gretchen Kuhner
Articles
July 26, 2007
El Salvador: Despite End to Civil War, Emigration Continues
By Sarah Gammage
Articles
March 1, 2007
Women Migrants in Transit and Detention in Mexico
By Gabriela Diaz, Gretchen Kuhner
Articles
February 1, 2007
Migration and Development: Lessons from the Mexican Experience
By Raul Delgado-Wise, Luis Eduardo Guarnizo
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Articles
February 1, 2007
Ecuador: Diversity in Migration
By Brad Jokisch

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Recent Activity

Reports
January 2010

Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government's Efforts to Aid Migrants in the United States

Mexico's efforts to help its migrants succeed in the U.S. offer a new example of an immigrant-sending country looking to improve its emigrants' lives and connect with its diaspora. This report examines Mexico's approach to its migrants and details the activities of the government's attempt to map the expanding range of its educational, health care, financial, and civic programs.

Articles
May 21, 2009

Uncovering the Emigration Policies of the Catholic Church in Mexico

In the 1920s, the Catholic Church in Mexico feared that mass emigration north caused the breakup of families and religious conversions. David Fitzgerald of the University of California, San Diego looks at how Church policy eventually became a voice for migrants' rights and how these policies have affected Mexican migration flows and Mexican government policies.

Reports
October 2008

Demographic Trends in Mexico: The Implications for Skilled Migration

A look at Mexico's slowing population growth, which, coupled with economic developments and changes in U.S. immigration policy (including stricter border control), has resulted in a slight slowdown in Mexican immigration to the United States relative to the 1995 to 2000 period.

Articles
June 2, 2008

Women Migrants in Detention in Mexico: Conditions and Due Process

Approximately 400,000 migrants transit through Mexico each year in order to reach the United States, many of them women from Latin America. Gabriela Diaz and Gretchen Kuhner explain how the detention system's structure and new detention procedures affect women.

Articles
July 26, 2007

El Salvador: Despite End to Civil War, Emigration Continues

Thousands of Salvadorans fled the country during its civil war in the 1980s, many of them to the United States. The government is focused on engaging its diaspora but also must deal with immigrants from neighboring countries and issues around human trafficking.

Articles
March 1, 2007

Women Migrants in Transit and Detention in Mexico

Since 2000, Mexico has further intensified efforts to detain and deport irregular migrants. Gabriela Diaz and Gretchen Kuhner investigate the experiences of women migrants, the majority of them from Latin America, who have been detained in Mexico en route to the United States.

Articles
February 1, 2007

Ecuador: Diversity in Migration

Thousands of Ecuadorians live in the United States and Spain, making migration-related development policy a major issue for the government. At the same time, the country has received economic migrants from Peru but has done little to address the Colombian refugee situation, as Brad Jokisch of Ohio University explains.

Articles
February 1, 2007

Migration and Development: Lessons from the Mexican Experience

Mexico has often been cited as a successful example of the positive relationship between migration and development. But Raúl Delgado-Wise and Luis Eduardo Guarnizo show why Mexico's model is unsustainable.

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