We are just one month into 2021, but the first few weeks suggest that the new year may mirror the last in many ways on the migration front.  

An estimated 8,000 people, most of them from Honduras, attempted to make their way north through Central America in January, only to be halted by the coordinated action of regional authorities, including Mexico. The route is a well-trodden one, but new emigration pressures are mounting for people in Honduras and elsewhere in Central America, including the lingering economic effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and devastating hurricanes that struck last November. Migrants have pointed to lack of government assistance in the wake of the storms as a driving factor for their decision to trek north, in an illustration of how climate change and environmental impacts can affect migration—an issue the Migration Information Source is exploring through a podcast and a special series of articles.

The fate of the caravan illustrates how countries such as Guatemala and Mexico have more aggressively intervened in migrants’ movement, under pressure from the United States. In years past these caravans moved through the region with little hinderance. But fears about the coronavirus and the legacy of pressure from the Trump administration helped build new barriers to their progress, though it appears the caravan phenomenon is unlikely to fade.

In our U.S. Policy Beat article this week, MPI’s Muzaffar Chishti and Sarah Pierce outline how new President Joe Biden is breaking from his predecessor on immigration matters. Biden has outlined a $4 billion plan for development in Central America, aimed at addressing the root causes of migration. But Trump’s policies will continue to have resonance in the region, given the difficulty of unwinding them.  

Increased pressure on transit countries to manage migration has been a hallmark of the COVID-19 era and was one of our top issues of 2020. Concerns about the coronavirus’s spread have led to serious impediments to movement, yet the economic fallout from the pandemic has for many made the drive to move all the more pressing.

Another example comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some 2,500 migrants have been stranded in the freezing cold after the Lipa emergency tent camp, hastily constructed over the summer to accommodate people trapped by pandemic-prompted border restrictions, was closed and then ravaged by fire. The plight of the migrants, bound for Croatia and the European Union, has raised significant concern.

New coronavirus variants and renewed outbreaks are prompting another round of travel restrictions, even as vaccines have started to be administered in many wealthy countries. The developments are a reminder that migration flows and trends have a long tail. There is new hope for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will take time for those changes to impact migrants’ experiences.

Best regards,
Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
[email protected]