Migration News Brief for March 17, 2023

SPOTLIGHT

La engañosa política de asilo de Biden
Lisa Haugaard, El Faro, 10 de marzo de 2023
“El 21 de febrero de 2023, la administración Biden propuso una norma para penalizar a los solicitantes de asilo que crucen la frontera de manera irregular. Según la nueva medida, el asilo será denegado en la frontera a quienes lo soliciten sin tener una cita aprobada para solicitarlo. Si no tienen cita, tienen que mostrar que han solicitado el asilo en alguno de los países por los que transitaron y les haya sido negado. La Casa Blanca ha intentado justificar su decisión refiriéndose a esta como una disposición de carácter temporal, pero esa aseveración es especialmente engañosa. Es poco probable que si la norma sobrevive a las impugnaciones judiciales, las administraciones futuras se atrevan a levantarla y pagar el costo político.”

U.S. ENFORCEMENT

Few Guatemalan children are reunited with parents through U.S. program, report finds
Carmen Sesin, NBC News, March 15, 2023
“Few, if any, Guatemalan children have made it to the U.S. under an expanded program to reunite children with their parents in the U.S., according to a new report. President Joe Biden restarted the Central American Minors program, known as CAM, in March 2021. It was launched by the Obama administration in 2014 and terminated by the Trump administration in 2018.”

Border vigilante yells ‘traffickers’ at birders, destroys humanitarian aid
Danyelle Khmara, Arizona Daily Star, March 14, 2023
“A border vigilante near Sasabe yelled at a group of Tucson Audubon Society birders, calling them ‘traffickers in training,’ and destroyed humanitarian aid left for migrants.”

Kaine, Menendez, Colleagues Urge State Department to Hold Guatemalan Officials Accountable for Corruption
US Senate, March 14, 2023
“Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and SFRC Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) were joined by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Peter Welch (D-VT), in urging the State Department to hold Guatemalan officials accountable for corruption and encouraging the Department of State to review and update its approach in Guatemala to better align longstanding U.S. values and interests.”

BORDER MILITIA BILL REVEALS TEXAS GOP’S SCHEME TO EXPAND STATE ENFORCEMENT POWERS
Justin Miller, Texas Observer, March 14, 2023
“With a rash of legislation unveiled at the bill filing deadline last Friday, Texas Republicans are escalating their brazen scheme to challenge the federal government’s authority on border security and immigration enforcement—and empower states’ rights on this front.”

Hundreds of migrants try to force US-Mexico border
Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters, March 13, 2023
“Frustrated with problems securing appointments to seek asylum using a new U.S. government app, the migrants gathered at the frontier in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, but could not breach the crossing connecting the two countries.”

Desperate migrants seeking asylum face a new hurdle: Technology
Arelis R. Hernández, The Washington Post, March 11, 2023
“It was supposed to be his last day in Mexico. The 7-year-old Venezuelan boy beamed as he bade farewell to his teacher, Liliana Carlos, at a school for migrant children living in tents while waiting for their chance to enter the United States. His family, finally, had obtained an appointment in February with U.S. Customs and Border Protection after weeks of trying to use a new app to secure a slot.”

At the End of a Hard Journey, Migrants Face Another: Navigating Bureaucracy
Eileen Sullivan and Steve Fisher, The New York Times, March 10, 2023
“Etienne Termulis spent nine days trying to make an appointment with the U.S. government for a chance to seek asylum. The process is part of a new border management plan the Biden administration announced this year to decrease the number of illegal crossings at the southern border. But immigration advocates say, and some migrants’ experiences show, that it is far from the “fair, orderly and humane” system the president has promised.”

U.S. transfers Border Patrol agents to northern border as migrant crossings from Canada rise
Julia Ainsley and Didi Martinez, NBC News, March 6, 2023
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection has detailed 25 extra agents to a busy section of the northern border, effective Monday, as the number of migrants, particularly those from Mexico, crossing into the U.S. from Canada continues to rise, according to a CBP spokesperson.”

Biden administration expected to grant protected immigration status for Nicaraguans
Myah Ward, Politico, March 6, 2023
“The Biden administration plans to redesignate Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua amid pressure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers, according to three people familiar with the plans.”

MEXICAN ENFORCEMENT

Suman más de 400 migrantes rescatados en menos de dos semanas; al menos 100 eran menores de edad
Jenifer Nava, Infobae, 14 de marzo de 2023
“En el estado de Sonora fueron rescatadas 59 personas migrantes de diferentes edades y nacionalidades que posiblemente intentarían llegar a la frontera para ingresar a Estados Unidos. El rescate se dio en coordinación de elementos de la Guardia Nacional, personal del Ejército Mexicano, del Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) y de la Policía Estatal en el marco de la Estrategia Nacional de Seguridad Pública.”

Familiares de migrantes desaparecidos denunciarán a FGR, CNB y Fiscalía de Jalisco ante CNDH
Sistema Integral de Información en Derechos Humanos, 15 de marzo de 2023
“Familiares de 23 migrantes guanajuatenses desaparecidos en 2011 presentarán una queja ante la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH), contra de la Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), Fiscalia General de Justicia del Estado, la Comisión Nacional de Búsqueda (CNB) y un juez de distrito de Jalisco, por ignorar pruebas del caso.”

Youth found in abandoned truck trailer returned to Guatemala
Al Jazeera, March 9, 2023
“More than 100 children and teens from Guatemala have been flown home after they were discovered in a truck trailer in Mexico, one of the largest recent returns of unaccompanied minors back to the Central American country.”

ROOT CAUSES

REGIONAL

Protection for Social Leaders and Ethnic Communities Remains Dire
Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, WOLA, March 15, 2023
“Below you will find the security incidents and human rights abuses WOLA received since December 2022. We are deeply concerned about the on-going violence, insecurity and attacks faced by human rights defenders and entire Indigenous and Afrodescendant communities. Despite the change in rhetoric and announced efforts to improve security for social leaders and conflict affected communities, we do not see increased of protection for these on the ground.”

Aumenta migración irregular en Ecuador
Prensa Latina, 11 de marzo de 2023
“La institución mexicana reveló que solamente en 2022 fueron aprehendidos 246 ecuatorianos en un intento por llegar a los Estados Unidos de América. De acuerdo con las cifras del INM, Ecuador superó los 100 mil migrantes durante los últimos tres meses del pasado año”.

MIGRANT WOMEN FACE MORE DIFFICULTIES TO REGULARIZE AND INTEGRATE, WHAT CAN WE DO?
Dyann Roman, International Organization for Migration, March 7, 2023
“Regularization and integration of migrant women in the region is impeded by a variety of factors: administrative aspects such as limited access to certain categories of regularization, the sexual division of labor that continues to delimit the opportunities and sectors of formal employment they can access, the gender roles and stereotypes that permeate their opportunities for socialization and inclusion, and the social, economic and structural gaps that limit their participation outside the home in a foreign country.” 

The reality of migrant women en route to the US: rapes and no access to hospitals
Beatriz Guillén, El Pais, March 7, 2023
“This story isn’t new, but it’s still happening. Migrant women consistently leave their home countries with the hope of reaching the United States. On the road, they encounter fear, hunger and violence. They come from countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and have to cross more than 3,000 miles on foot from Mexico to reach the US border. For some women and girls, being raped is the price of the trip.”

Mexico

La propuesta de un diputado de Morena abre el debate sobre la elección del nuevo rector de la UNAM
Isabella González, El País, 11 de marzo de 2023
“Una propuesta para cambiar la forma en que se elige al rector de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) ha colocado en el centro de la conversación pública la elección del próximo. La iniciativa escrita por el diputado de Morena Armando Contreras no llegó propiamente a la Gaceta de la Cámara de Diputados, por lo que oficialmente no ha sido presentada para su discusión en el recinto legislativo. Sin embargo, partes del texto, firmado el 9 de marzo pasado, fueron circuladas en redes sociales.”

Deadly Matamoros kidnapping has sparked fear among Black migrants, aid workers say
Dianne Solis, The Dallas Morning News, March 10, 2023
“The kidnapping of four Black Americans — and the killing of two of them — in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros has sparked fear among Black migrants and raised concerns among aid workers who say Black asylum-seekers have long been targeted by drug cartels.”

El Plan B, la democracia y los contrapesos en México
Stephanie Brewer, Washington Office on Latin America, March 6, 2023
“El 22 de febrero, el Congreso mexicano terminó de aprobar el paquete de reformaselectorales conocido como el Plan B (se llama así porque reemplazó una propuesta más ambiciosa de reformas constitucionales en materia electoral que fue rechazada a finales de 2022). Con las reformas a leyes secundarias contempladas en el Plan B, el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador busca, entre otras cosas, modificar la estructura y las funciones del Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE), el órgano autónomo que organiza elecciones, emite credenciales para votar y fiscaliza campañas”.

Mexicans are mobilizing to protect their eroding democracy
Christian Paz, Vox, February 25, 2023
“Unlike the first protest in November, this time the demonstration might be too late: the changes to the elections agency, the National Electoral Institute (el INE, as it’s known by its Spanish acronym), have already been approved by the Mexican Congress (the senate passed the proposal on Wednesday). Commonly known as the “Plan B,” the legislation is headed to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s desk for final passage, and upon signing, would amount to the biggest overhaul of the country’s election system in nearly a decade.”

Guatemala

Women’s History Month
Guatemala Human Rights Commission, March 16, 2023
“International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th, is dedicated to the fight for equality, participation, and empowerment of women in all areas of society. We take this opportunity to acknowledge the injustices, discrimination, femicide, and lack of opportunities women face worldwide, particularly in Guatemala. Today, we express our solidarity with the individuals who have fought and continue to fight for justice.”

Situation of human rights in Guatemala
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, March, 2023
“In his report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the human rights situation and the activities of his office in Guatemala from 1 January to 31 December 2022. He highlights advances and persisting challenges in the promotion and protection of human rights, with a focus on issues related to equality and non-discrimination, inclusive and sustainable human development, justice, democratic space and the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.”

El Salvador

El Salvador extends emergency powers in year-long gang crackdown
Al Jazeera, March 16, 2023
“Lawmakers in El Salvador have once again extended a state of emergency that suspends certain civil liberties as the government of President Nayib Bukele continues its fight against gangs. The so-called state of exception, renewed for a 12th time late on Wednesday by the Salvadoran Congress, came into effect last year and has led to around 66,000 arrests in the Central American nation.”

El Salvador: 2,000 more to prison, vows will ‘never return’
Marcos Aleman, Associated Press, March 15, 2023
“El Salvador’s government sent 2,000 more suspects to a huge new prison built especially for gang members Wednesday, and the the justice minister vowed that “they will never return” to the streets.”

El Salvador’s false dilemma
Rafael Romo, CNN, March 11, 2023
“Many of the people arrested under the state of emergency have been charged but not convicted, and receive little opportunity to argue their innocence in El Salvador’s group hearings. At the beginning of January, just over 3,000 detainees had been freed due to lack of evidence – of the over 64,000 people arrested since the state of emergency began.”

Activists urge human rights court to condemn El Salvador’s abortion ban
Wilfredo Pineda and Sarah Morland, Reuters, March 6, 2023
“Women’s rights activists on Monday called for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to condemn El Salvador in a case brought a decade ago by a woman who died after being forced to carry a pregnancy, although the fetus could not survive.”

Honduras

CIDH otorga medidas cautelares a Hedme Fátima Castro Vargas, defensora de derechos humanos en Honduras
Organización de los Estados Americanos, 9 de marzo de 2023“La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) emitió el 6 de marzo de 2023 la Resolución 11/2023, mediante la cual otorgó medidas cautelares a favor de Hedme Fátima Castro Vargas y su núcleo familiar, tras considerar que se encuentran en una situación de gravedad y urgencia de riesgo de daño irreparable a sus derechos en Honduras”.

Situation of human rights in Honduras
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, March, 2023
“In the present report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the human rights situation and the activities of his office in Honduras from 1 January to 31 December 2022. The report highlights the main progress and challenges in the promotion and protection of human rights, and concludes with recommendations to the State.”

ACTIONS, ALERTS, RESOURCES

Solidarity with Lorena Peña in face of Misogynistic and Defamatory Attacks
CISPES, March 8, 2023
“Join CISPES and fellow solidarity, legal, human rights and feminist organizations in signing on to the following statement to denounce political persecution against long-time feminist and political leader, Lorena Peña. Despite the allegations against her have already been disproved, the Bukele-controlled justice system is nonetheless bringing charges against her with no guarantee of judicial independence or a fair trial.”

ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN CRISIS
Plan International, March 2023
“This report shows how girls experience the effects of crises and emergencies differently, and that external factors have an impact on their growth and development. The objective of the report is to prepare advocacy recommendations based on the analysis of the impact of forced migration and social or gender-based violence on the rights to education and protection of adolescent girls in the Northern Triangle of Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico.”

Budget of the US Government Fiscal Year 2024
White House Office of Management and Budget, March 2023
“Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024 contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President’s priorities, and summary tables.”