Developments
Panama’s government posted statistics showing that 110,008 people migrated through the Darién Gap during the first 3 months of 2024. That is 26 percent more migration than Panama measured during the first 3 months of 2023, a year in which 520,085 people ended up traveling through the Darién Gap.
22 percent of this year’s migrants were children. Of the adult population, 36 percent were women. 64 percent of this year’s total have been citizens of Venezuela, followed by Ecuador (8%), Haiti (7%), Colombia (6%), and China (6%).
The pace of migration has been unusually steady, averaging 1,161 migrants per day in January, 1,282 in February, and 1,188 in March. Last year, migration in the Darién jumped 55 percent from February to March.
- “Tránsito Irregular por Darién 2024“ (Panamá Migración, April 2024).
Between January 1 and April 16, Guatemalan authorities expelled 7,735 mostly U.S.-bound migrants into Honduras and 177 into El Salvador. In this respect, the new government of Bernardo Arévalo has made no changes to its predecessors’ approach to in-transit migration. Of this year’s expulsions, 77 percent have been citizens of Venezuela. Other frequently expelled nationalities include Colombia (9%), Ecuador (6%), and Haiti (2%). Guatemala’s expulsions included 44 citizens of China and 18 citizens of Turkey.
- Yesica Pena, “Migracion Ha Rechazado a Mas de 7,900 Extranjeros por Ingresar al Pais de Manera Irregular” (La Hora (Guatemala), April 22, 2024).
Some of the migrants whom Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) paid to have flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts in September 2022 have been granted “U” visas, a status for victims of crimes that are currently being investigated or prosecuted, the Miami Herald reported. A U.S. district judge in Massachusetts also found recently that the private contractor Florida hired to run the flight, Vertol Systems, may have “participated in a scheme to recruit vulnerable individuals through deceit so they could unwillingly and publicly be used as a prop in an extremely divisive national debate,”
- Ana Ceballos, “Some Migrants Flown by Desantis to Martha’s Vineyard Qualify for Victim Visas, Feds Say” (The Miami Herald, April 22, 2024).
Eight dead bodies abandoned along a highway near Chihuahua, the capital of Mexico’s northern border state of the same name, may be related to turf battles between migrant smuggling organizations in the area, Border Report reported.
- Julian Resendiz, “8 Dead in Fight for Control of Migrant Smuggling” (Border Report, April 22, 2024).
“Of Costa Rica’s 5.2 million inhabitants, one million are relatively recent migrants. Twenty percent of births are to Nicaraguan mothers and 20 percent of prisoners are of Nicaraguan origin,” said Costa Rica’s foreign minister, Arnoldo André Tinoco.
- “Canciller de Costa Rica: Con Nicaragua Tenemos “Magnifica” Relacion de Frontera Pero No en Derechos Humanos” (EFE, Confidencial (Nicaragua), April 22, 2024).
The independent Nicaraguan outlet Nicaragua Investiga reported on the two years of red tape and indifference that a family suffered as it tried to repatriate from Texas the remains of a young man who died of drowning in the Rio Grande in May 2022.
- “Familia Lucho Casi Dos Anos para Repatriar Cuerpo de Nicaraguense Fallecido en el Rio Bravo” (Nicaragua Investiga, April 22, 2024).
The jury was unable to agree on a verdict in the trial of Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, who allegedly shot and killed Mexican migrant Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea on his property in January 2023. The judge in the case declared a mistrial.
- Anita Snow, “Arizona Judge Declares Mistrial in the Case of a Rancher Accused of Fatally Shooting a Migrant” (Associated Press, Associated Press, April 22, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
Speaking to analysts about migration patterns, a National Public Radio piece concluded that Mexico’s ongoing efforts to block migration will not reduce arrivals at the U.S. border for long, as flows into Mexico from the south remain robust.
- Sergio Martinez-Beltran, “Despite a Fortified Border, Migrants Will Keep Coming, Analysts Agree. Here’s Why.” (National Public Radio, April 22, 2024).
In a third in-depth report about U.S.-bound migration published in the past 10 days, the Honduran digital outlet ContraCorriente reported on the increasing diversity of nationalities of migrants taking the very risky journey through Mexico atop the “La Bestia” cargo train.
- Bryan Avelar, “Caminar Con la Mordida de ‘la Bestia’” (ContraCorriente (Honduras), April 22, 2024).
“The notion that there is a crisis caused by the border is fallacious,” economist James Gerber, author of the new book Border Economies: Cities Bridging the U.S.-Mexico Divide, told Sandra Dibble at Voice of San Diego. “There is a crisis in U.S. immigration policy, that’s the crisis. People are going to migrate and they’re going to migrate in bigger numbers over time because of the climate crisis. This is something that we need to learn how to manage better.”
- Sandra Dibble, “Border Report: The Tale of Twin Cities and Their Economies” (Voice of San Diego, April 22, 2024).
Even immigration restrictionist groups avoid using the term “invasion” to describe migration—as many Republican politicians are doing—because it is “inaccurate and incendiary,” reported Rafael Bernal at The Hill.
- Rafael Bernal, “Even Immigration Restrictionists Stay Away From Gop’s ‘Invasion’ Rhetoric” (The Hill, April 23, 2024).
“When we encounter someone fleeing starvation, political repression and threats to their life and liberty, we should see ourselves in them,” wrote Shmuly Yanklowitz, a rabbi who often works at the border in Arizona, in a Passover reflection published by the Chicago Tribune.
- Shmuly Yanklowitz, “The Border Crisis Demands Our Humanity. Passover Reminds Us How.” (The Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2024).