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June 23, 2020

Dear John,

I am pleased to share with you the first edition of our bimonthly newsletter highlighting the latest resources and analysis available on MPI’s Latin America and the Caribbean Migration Portal.

The Portal is the first comprehensive, curated online resource for data, research, and analysis on immigration policy in the region. This site is particularly relevant as Latin American and Caribbean countries have dealt with new and sometimes unprecedented migration flows in the past several years—including the mass exodus of Venezuelans to countries throughout the region and large migration flows from Central American countries to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. While some Latin American and Caribbean countries have long traditions of labor migration, mixed migration flows on the current scale are new and have prompted a period of rapid and often innovative policy development. And the onset of a pandemic has spurred policymakers to enter a new period of accelerated policy formation, at the intersection of immigration, public health, and social welfare.

This Portal aims to be a resource to anyone involved in evidence-based policymaking: government officials, international organizations, advocacy groups, service providers, researchers, and others. It features key immigration statistics, links to new laws and policies from around the region, and a selection of research reports by researchers and service providers on migration issues. Experts from around the region and from MPI also offer original analysis on current developments in our Insights series.

At a moment when countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are building the foundations of new migration policies in the region, it is more important than ever that those participating have access to timely and trustworthy research and to information on creative practices and initiatives.

Content on the Portal is updated weekly, with resources in both English and Spanish. If you would like to suggest resources for inclusion on the Portal, please contact Andrea Tanco ([email protected]) and/or Jessica Bolter ([email protected]). To access the Portal, please visit www.migrationportal.org, and sign up for updates here. And please feel free to share widely!

Best regards,

Andrew Selee, PhD
President
Migration Policy Institute

Insight- By Diego Chavés
Colombia Border Closure Puts Refugees and Migrants at Risk during COVID-19 Crisis

Colombia could become one of the global epicenters for the spread of the novel coronavirus. As the number of cases continues to surge, the South American nation is likely to continue receiving sizeable flows of vulnerable migrants and refugees from Venezuela and Ecuador, given the economic, social, and political situations of both neighboring countries. While the efforts of the Colombian government to mitigate the public-health challenge are laudable, the question remains about how to foster a collective strategy among national and local governments, multilateral organizations, and the international community.

This insight draws from the April 2 webchat held with experts on COVID-19 in Latin America, Tackling Health Care & Other Impacts for Vulnerable Migrant Populations. The discussion provided an overview of the health situation in Venezuela and Ecuador, and the collateral impacts on the already overstretched health-care system in Colombia. The discussants aimed to offer a series of recommendations to stakeholders across the spectrum on how to tackle the possible public-health crisis, especially in regard to migrants and refugees in the host country.

New Resources Added to Portal

Response for Venezuelans (R4V): Flash updates: COVID-19 updates
Health Ministry of Colombia: Guidelines for the Prevention, Detection, and Management of COVID-19 Cases for the Migrant Population in Colombia (in Spanish)
International Labor Organization: Systematization of Studies on the Characteristics of Venezuelan Migration in Ecuador (Quito and Guayaquil) (in Spanish)
Inter-American Dialogue: Money Transfers to Venezuela: Remittance Flows Amidst Evolving Foreign Exchange
Equilibrium - Center for Economic Development: Second Opinion Survey of Venezuelan Migrants - Peru: COVID-19 Quarantine (in Spanish)
R4V: Support to Indigenous People from Venezuela and Host Communities in Brazil
Colombia's Ombudsman's Office: Analysis of Gender and Human Mobility at the Border (in Spanish)
Proyecto Migración Venezuela: Perceptions on Social Media about Venezuelan Migration (in Spanish)
Migration Policy Unit, Interior Ministry of Mexico: Extracontinental and Extra-regional Migrants in Transit Flows Through Mexico (in Spanish)

More on Migration in the Region

Andrew Selee, president of MPI, discusses Venezuelan return migration in the context of the coronavirus pandemic with La Silla Vacía (in Spanish)
Andrea Tanco and Ariel Ruiz analyze Mexico's development into a refugee-receiving country in Mexico Today

Explore the Latin America & Caribbean
Migration Portal

Portal en español

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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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