While much of the world’s attention has, of course, been focused on the crisis in Ukraine, some important news last week about migration through the Americas may have slipped under the radar. After a meeting with his counterpart from Colombia, U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans for a new hemispheric migration pact for countries across the Western Hemisphere to work together to respond to unexpected and changing patterns of movement.

“Our hemisphere’s migration challenges cannot be solved by one nation or any one border. We have to work together,” Biden said. “This can’t be a piecemeal approach in my view. It needs to include far more support for countries like Colombia that are hosting the lion’s share of the refugees and migrants. It is an obligation of all of us, not just Colombia.”

The goal is for leaders to sign a Regional Declaration on Migration and Protection at the Summit of the Americas in June, though at this point it is unclear precisely what commitments it could include. In addition to greater support for major countries of first asylum such as Colombia, which is host to nearly 2 million Venezuelans, Biden said the agreement should “dramatically expand access” to refugee resettlement and other legal migration pathways, as well as more aggressively target smugglers and traffickers.

Both Colombia and the United States have offered forms of temporary protected status to Venezuelans, and more than 1.8 million have responded to the legalization offer made by President Iván Duque’s government last year. In recent weeks, meanwhile, as the number of Venezuelans caught trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization has ballooned, the United States has begun returning those who had previously lived in Colombia back to that country, under the controversial Title 42 public-health order.

The new declaration seems to be apiece with Biden’s focus on working with regional governments to better manage migration before large numbers of people reach the U.S. border. The administration has framed this as an attempt to tackle the “root causes” of migration such as endemic poverty, corruption, and violence. It has also used the language of collaboration with Mexico and Central American countries.

Regional collaboration across the Americas has been a major theme for the Migration Policy Institute, too. My colleagues have written at length about the opportunities for countries to work together and the benefits that it could yield for countries of origin and destination, as well as individuals themselves.

In some ways, events in Europe could be instructive. The European Union’s solidarity was tested during the refugee and migration crisis of 2015-16. Yet amid a massive exodus of nearly 3 million Ukrainians in less than three weeks since Russia’s invasion, EU Member States have spoken as one. So far, the system seems to be responding as well as could be expected. In his remarks with Biden, Duque noted that he has spoken with leaders in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and elsewhere in Europe about Colombia’s responses to Venezuelans in distress. Perhaps both regions might have something to teach each other.

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