Migrants head to U.S. to flee poverty, violence, disasters and more, survey shows

EL PASO – Poverty, food insecurity, gang violence and weather-related disasters are the main drivers of ongoing mass migration to the United States, a trend now fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released Monday by the Hope Border Institute.

In addition, migration is unlikely to slow any time soon and could even increase as conditions deteriorate across Latin America, particularly Central America and Mexico, which surprisingly saw a dramatic increase in “internally displaced” Mexican migrants due to Violence displacing people from key states like Michoacan, Guerrero and Guanajuato.

The No Queda de Otra (There is no other choice) report: an examination of the causes of migration to the southern border. The report interviewed 51 people over a two-month period in three different migrant shelters in Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso.

With criticism from all quarters of the Biden administration for its border and migration policies, this study offers a firsthand report on the migrants and attempts to explain its determination to reach the United States.

Regarding the results: Around 60% of those questioned emigrated as part of a family. And about 60% were internally displaced in their country of origin before attempting to emigrate to the US.

“I think the Biden government needs to understand that deterrence is not a solution,” said Hannah Hollandbyrd, author of the report and policy expert at the Hope Border Institute, a non-profit advocating for migrants and asylum seekers. “And root causes take a lot of effort, but it’s inconsistent with a deterrent approach. We need a coherent migration policy approach that focuses on why people are leaving the country rather than criminalizing them when they have already taken that step. “

While in recent years the main focus has been on migration from Central America, Mexicans fleeing violence have often been overlooked, Hollandbyrd said.

“For the Mexicans we interviewed, migration was mostly associated with extortion and violence,” she said. Many people mentioned poverty and simply lack of access to basic needs such as health care, food, lack of work and climate change.

“Many Central Americans have lost homes, businesses, and crops during natural disasters such as hurricanes. The pandemic only added additional uncertainty to the situations they are already experiencing. For these people, the pandemic was already on the verge, that was the last straw. “

Another important conclusion, she added, for people experiencing violence, especially women and the LGBT community, is “the lack of government protection. The government was completely absent in her life. ”

Overall, Hollandbyrd added, “We interviewed people in these shelters, but there were many, many more and it was clear and inevitable that with these push factors it is inevitable that more people would be forced to migrate.”

The report outlines a number of recommendations that include rebuilding the US asylum process and strengthening legal avenues for Central American migration; Supporting local efforts by members of civil society to hold governments accountable; Expanding family reunification visas and creating education, work and study visas for young Central Americans while working with key sectors of the private sector to provide them with opportunities.

The report, released during a webinar on Monday, also included expert testimony from two researchers, Ursula Roldán Andrade, researcher and coordinator at the Institute for Migration Research and Policy Management at Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala, and Sister Nyzelle Juliana Dondé in Honduras. She is the coordinator of the Pastoral de la Movilidad Humana, the migrant work of the Honduran bishops.

“Change,” Juliana said of climate change, “will require a fundamental change in civil society.” She pointed out a lack of basic government needs in migrants’ home countries, such as water and sanitation. “So you need education that begins at a young age. Unless we develop an ecological understanding at a young age, it will be very difficult to make the change. “

Roldán added: “We all know that the big polluters are the big industrialized countries. However, in our own countries in Latin America, and especially in Guatemala, where I live, we need to educate our own governments and the general population about the risks we face around the world. “

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