October 17, 2023 Dear John, The next major displacement of people in the Americas is in the making, and it is going unnoticed. Steady emigration from Haiti since a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 220,000 people and left another 1.5 million homeless in 2010 could be punctuated by new migration spikes given the country’s political, economic, and societal unraveling. Earlier this month, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of an international security mission to help quell surging gang violence and steadily worsening conditions for Haitians. How will already overwhelmed migration systems in the Americas respond to major new Haitian displacement? In particular as the response to Haitian migration to date has been largely haphazard—unlike that for the exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelan migrants seen since 2015. “Like Haitians, Venezuelans are fleeing for a number of reasons: political persecution, joblessness, crime, hunger, and, as Haitians would say, yap chache lavi (looking for a better life),” writes Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Senior Policy Analyst Valerie Lacarte in a new commentary. “Yet even if they have experienced integration challenges in some countries, Venezuelan migrants have enjoyed a far warmer welcome than Haitians throughout the Americas, thanks to a practical, innovative, and somewhat coordinated regional strategy.” The commentary calls for a stronger agenda at the hemispheric level to address the spillovers of the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as to create a coordinated regional response similar to that seen to address Venezuelan displacement. You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/haiti-next-displacement-crisis-americas. And for all of MPI’s work on Haiti, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/country-resource/haiti. Best regards,  Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Migration Policy Institute |
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| The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national and international levels. For more on MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org. |
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