Migration patterns from and through Central America are changing in fundamental ways amid rising immigration enforcement and a reduction in global humanitarian aid. These twin developments are putting new pressures on governments in the region and reshaping migrant experiences, as this article explores.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one of its largest economies, sits at the crossroads of the continent’s migration landscape. As both a regional immigration hub and an origin for significant emigration, the country contends with a wide range of migration issues that have evolved over time. This country profile situates Nigeria's migration trends and policies.
While the term "climate refugee” is often used colloquially, people displaced by environmental factors are not actually eligible for refugee status on that basis. However, policymakers and advocates have begun to experiment with approaches to protection by other means. This article reviews the initiatives, including a novel visa in Australia and the ways that longstanding legal frameworks have been used to encompass people deeply affected by climate change.
Many Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago have found that their situation is more complex than expected as the Caribbean country has largely adopted an enforcement-first approach. Many Venezuelan migrants face stigma and precarity—issues complicated amid escalating tensions between Venezuela and the United States, as this article details.
One of Europe’s poorest countries, Moldova has hosted more displaced Ukrainians per capita than any other nation. More than one-quarter of the nearly 7 million Ukrainians who fled since Russia’s 2022 invasion have passed through Moldova. This article provides an overview of the little country shouldering a disproportionate burden even as it is pulled between Russia and the European Union.
Argentina's founders had a clear desire to encourage immigration, especially from Europe, and the country was for a period among the world’s top immigration destinations. Trends and policies shifted over time, and since the early 1900s overall immigration has declined. Most immigrants now come from neighboring South American countries. This country profile examines Argentina’s migration past and present, including a turn to more restrictive policymaking.
Un nivel histórico de migración está transformando las sociedades y la política en América Latina y el Caribe, dando paso a una etapa definida por la volatilidad. Este artículo analiza estas dinámicas en el Caribe y Centroamérica y Sudamérica, y analiza la probabilidad de que la región se acerque a un punto de inflexión en la gestión de la migración.
Amid unprecedented migration that began in 2010, Latin America and the Caribbean have entered a new era best defined by volatility. The success of initial policy responses to the displacement of millions of Venezuelans and other migration patterns has dimmed, given incomplete integration outcomes and other pressures. This article details these dynamics across the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Migration governance in Africa's Sahel region has been been pulled in different directions, torn between security-focused border restrictions and economic visions for free movement. New complexity was added after Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger withdrew from the regional ECOWAS bloc. This articles provides insight on the migration and policy trends in a dynamic region.
Sudan’s civil war has created the world's largest and fastest-growing displacement crisis, one that has been largely overshadowed by conflicts and political tensions elsewhere around the globe. As major international donor countries pull back humanitarian aid funding, the crisis is only expected to worsen. This article examines the dramatic scale of displacement and its place in Sudan's history.
As Syria enters a new era with the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, the question of return of millions of Syrians who sought refuge internationally looms large. In Jordan, which has been a key host for Syrian refugees, limited numbers of Syrians have chosen to return to date. Instead, what has quietly taken shape is a fragile form of long-term integration. This article examines Jordan's response to the protracted Syrian displacement over time and prospects for the future.
Denmark has gradually moved to a restrictive approach toward humanitarian protection, in a shift that has made it something of a leader for other countries—and an anomaly as it has done so under a center-left government. As this country profile explains, Danish policymakers have pioneered policies that limit protection, including making it temporary.
Children and youth who are displaced by climate events face unique barriers to accessing and completing school. Children comprise a disproportionately large share of the world’s forcibly displaced people, and even temporary displacement can have permanent ramifications for their education, livelihood prospects, and well-being. This article explores the connections between climate change, mobility, and education.
Eritreans account for a disproportionately large share of the world’s refugees. But fleeing the harshly repressive country is rarely easy. This article provides a primer on the situation in Eritrea and the conditions that refugees and other emigrants have encountered abroad.
Passports are powerful documents that can either open the world to international mobility or signify the limits of one's citizenship. Yet passports are relatively recent inventions, and often operate with a nuance that is rarely appreciated. This article examines the international law of passports and the legal framework for issuing and recognizing travel documents.
While millions of Ukrainians have sought refuge across Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, not every displaced person has been welcomed equally. Displacement has come with additional barriers for many of the estimated 100,000 Roma people who fled the country, continuing a pattern of exclusion and marginalization experienced by Roma in Europe across generations, as this article details.
Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to see more climate-related displacement than any other world region. That fate, however, can be mitigated through the use of measures such as early warning systems and adaptation strategies to lessen the impact of droughts, floods, and other hazards. This article provides an overview of existing climate-related displacement in Africa and approaches to limit future internal migration that owes to environmental causes.
The Biden administration took significantly more executive actions on immigration than its predecessors, including during Donald Trump's first term, although it has been unable to escape criticism for its response to record irregular arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. The border overshadowed administration steps to modernize the legal immigration system and rebuild refugee resettlement, as this analysis of Biden's track record explains.
For five decades, Sahrawi refugees have been displaced from Western Sahara, which many people call "Africa’s last colony" and which the United Nations considers the world’s largest and most populous non-self-governing territory. As this article details, young Sahrawis have for decades left the isolated refugee camps to study and live abroad, but many seem increasingly inclined not to return.
More refugees were resettled in the United States in fiscal year (FY) 2024 than any year since FY 1994, marking a rapid turnaround from record-low refugee resettlement just three years earlier. The system was rebuilt by investing in people and processes, streamlining operations, and being willing to experiment. This article explains the sea change in resettlement admissions and puts it in context.
