Both of the leading presidential candidates said during the campaign that Mexico needed to create more and better jobs to stem migration - but their approaches to the problem differ. Susan Gzesh of the University of Chicago reports.
Not long after the United States passed the 1980 Refugee Act, thousands of people began fleeing civil war in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Their treatment in the United States, linked to U.S. foreign policy, spurred the Sanctuary Movement and efforts to grant them refugee status, as Susan Gzesh of the University of Chicago explains.
In 2004, Central American countries received US$ 7.8 billion in remittances through official channels. Are remittances hurting or helping the region? MPI’s Dovelyn Agunias investigates.
Guatemala's long civil war, which spurred large flows of refugees, has given way to high levels of economic migration to the United States and an economy more dependent on remittances. Also, Guatemala’s geography has made it a prime transit country for migrants headed north, as James Smith of Inforpress Centroamericana reports.
Although most Central American refugees sought protection in the United States, Canada admitted thousands of Central American refugees in the 1980s. María Cristina García of Cornell University takes a detailed look at Central Americans in Canada
Since the 1980s, Mexico has become home to Guatemalan refugees and served as a transit country for Central Americans seeking to reach the United States. Manuel Ángel Castillo of El Colegio de México analyzes Mexico's policies toward its southern neighbors.
Salvadorans abroad have helped their families economically and, to some extent, decreased poverty levels back home. Yet migration has economic and social costs in El Salvador - and has not yet proved to be the answer to its development problems, according to Katharine Andrade-Eekhoff.
Many migratory streams from Central America — including refugees, economic migrants, and transit flows headed north from South America and elsewhere — have converged in North America since the 1980s. Sarah J. Mahler and Dusan Ugrina of Florida International University outline the region's main trends.
Despite skilled emigration outflows, Argentina consistently attracts new economic migrants from its neighbors in the southern cone of Latin America. Maia Jachimowicz of Princeton University reports.
Colombia's ongoing armed conflict has caused millions to leave the country, both as economic migrants and as refugees; millions more have been internally displaced. While the government struggles with these issues, it is also courting Colombians abroad. Myriam Bérubé reports.
South America's largest country has experienced waves of immigration and, more recently, emigration. But Brazil has not proactively addressed new migration patterns, including increases in illegal immigrants. Ernesto Friedrich Amaral of the University of Texas at Austin and Wilson Fusco of Universidade Estadual de Campinas report.
Mexican negotiators seek shared responsibility over U.S.-Mexico migration issues, according to Gustavo Mohar, former chief negotiator for migration affairs at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S..
Chile's economic growth, political stability, and increased immigration are spurring the development of a new migration policy, according to Cristián Doña and Amanda Levinson.
Manuel Orozco of Inter-American Dialogue examines the increasing relevance of economic ties between diasporas and home country economies in Latin America.
The Sept. 11 attacks prompted greater government scrutiny of undocumented immigrants in the United States. MPI Research Assistant Kevin O'Neil takes a look at how many Mexicans living in the U.S. without authorization have turned to a Mexican government ID called the "matrícula consular" to better establish their identity.
Director of the Pew Hispanic Center, Roberto Suro, looks at how the flagging U.S. economy has not kept Latino immigrants from sending money back to their homelands.
Over half a million Colombians abandon their homes every year as a result of the country's long-running internal strife, creating a flood of internally displaced persons. Hiram Ruiz of the U.S. Committee on Refugees analyzes the roots of the crisis and the difficulties ahead.
