The Dominican Republic and Haiti: Shame
Juliana Deguis Pierre was born in 1984 in Los Jovillos, Dominican Republic, 72 miles (116 kilometers) west of Santo Domingo. Under the country’s constitutional recognition of birthright citizenship, Deguis—the daughter of two undocumented Haitian immigrants working in the sugar cane fields—was issued a birth certificate recognizing her Dominican nationality. Now 29 years old, she has … Read more
La Jaula de Oro
Hoping to protect herself from the journey ahead, 15-year-old Sara cuts her hair, binds her chest, and changes into a dirty T-shirt and a baseball cap. Emerging as a slouching teenage boy, she leaves her home in a Guatemalan slum for a better life in the United States. This poignant scene opens director Diego Quemada-Díez’s … Read more
Dispatches: Mexico’s New Demographic Dividend
With contributing research from Miryam Hazán and Carlos López Portillo Maltos of Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together (MATT). Read a sidebar on Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together (MATT’s) electronic job bank. Read a sidebar on Mexican migrants’ return to restaurant work. José Antonio Pérez remembers as a child seeing migrants climbing onto La Bestia (“The … Read more
Solving the Migration Crisis Requires a Shift in Foreign Policy
This Friday, presidents of the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will meet with President Barack Obama in Washington DC to deal with the crisis of unaccompanied minors arriving in the U.S. from Central America. Migration between these countries is not new, and has been high on the multilateral agenda for … Read more
U.S. Ambassador Shannon Travels to Central America
U.S. Counselor of Department of State Thomas Shannon arrived in Honduras on Wednesday as part of a three-day trip to Central America to address the estimated 52,000 unaccompanied minors from the region entering the U.S. illegally. As part of his trip, Shannon visited repatriation centers and met with leaders of civic organizations and government officials. … Read more
Short and Long-term Solutions to Migration in Central America
During the past few months, the United States, Mexico and Central American governments have brought attention to the number of unaccompanied minors fleeing towards the U.S. from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that the number of unaccompanied children ages 12 and younger caught at the … Read more
National Protests Planned Against Unaccompanied Minors
Three U.S. conservative political groups are organizing over 300 anti-immigration demonstrations across the country on Friday and Saturday to protest the federal government’s decision to relocate unaccompanied minors in Texas to other states. The American Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), Overpasses for America and Make Them Listen are coordinating efforts along with other Tea … Read more
Dominican Republic and Haiti Resume Immigration Talks
Yesterday in the city of Juan Dolio in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican and Haitian governments began the third round of bilateral talks concerning the legalization of the thousands of Haitians that live in the Dominican Republic without legal documentation. In a press conference after the talks concluded, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said that … Read more
Court Strikes Down Arizona’s Driver’s License Ban for DACA Recipients
On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an executive order issued by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in August 2012, which denied driver’s licenses to young immigrants who have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The ruling reverses a May 2013 decision in which District Judge David Campbell sided with Brewer’s … Read more
Obama to Pursue Executive Action on Immigration Reform
In an announcement at the White House yesterday, President Barack Obama blamed House Republicans for congressional inaction on comprehensive immigration reform, and said that he would be moving forward with executive action to fix the U.S.’s broken immigration system. Obama went on to say that he would be moving resources from the interior of the … Read more
Child Migrants—Whose Problem?
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Guatemala and U.S. President Barack Obama’s meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto this month highlighted the thousands of unaccompanied, undocumented Central American youth crossing the U.S. southwest border into the United States. Although the numbers don’t approach the millions of Mexicans and other Latin Americans crossing the … Read more
Homeland Security Seeks to Stem Flow of Undocumented Migrant Children
United States Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced yesterday that he is in discussions with several Latin American ambassadors about the increasing number of unaccompanied Central American children who are illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into southern Texas, and considering ways to send them home. Through May, 47,000 such children have made their way to … Read more
San Diego County Refuses to Honor ICE Detainers
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore announced yesterday that the county will no longer honor “detainer requests” from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The detainers, part of ICE’s Secure Communities program, ask state and local law enforcement agencies to hold potentially deportable individuals in jail for up to 48 hours, even if they are … Read more
The Dominican Senate Passes Citizenship Legislation
The Dominican Republic’s Senate passed a bill granting citizenship to children born in the Dominican Republic to migrant parents on the night of May 21st, following the approval of the law by the Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies) last Friday. Senator Cristina Lizardo, from Santo Domingo requested that the legislation be passed in urgency … Read more
Obama Sets Timeline for Action on Immigration Reform
In a meeting with law enforcement officials at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said that House Republicans have a “narrow window” of two or three months to push comprehensive immigration reform legislation through before midterm politics become a priority. Congressional elections will be held on November 4. At the meeting, Obama cast … Read more
