Migration is a vital part of the lives of Latin Americans. Within the 20th century's second half, and in the 21st's, millions of people from Latin American countries have relocated to the developed North.

However, in the past decade, a set of specifically severe displacement crises in Central America and Venezuela has upturned the trend with countless Latin Americans going to neighboring nations and putting down origins.

Four million Venezuelans have gone to nearly every country in Latin America, with the most significant figures in Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. Meanwhile, another batch of 100,000 Nicaraguans relocated to Costa Rica.

Tens of thousands or probably even hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans have opted to stay and settle in Mexico as it becomes more difficult to move to the U.S. Nevertheless, if migration is considered a global concern, the picture in Latin America is noticeably different.


Displacement Crises Following a Common Pattern

In other nations of the world, displacement or dislocation crises are following a familiar pattern. Every time people are fleeing their country due to a significant problem, the state functions' collapse, or merely common violence, UN agencies act to assist the nations that receive the migrants.

Relatively, the majority of these displaced officially get assigned as refugees, and the overseas community organizes to develop camps and provide the refugees with food, housing, and schools. But the experience of Latin America could be quite different.

Countries in this region have attempted to incorporate the fleeing countries into their labor market, the local neighborhoods, as well as the education system. Now, the majority of the government has avoided using the term "refugee" to favor the treatment of the arriving individuals as essential parts of the new communities they are hosting.


Migration Response through Creative Thinking

It may be doubtful for a region like Latin America that didn't have too much recent experience with mass immigration movements pivot so fast to do this. Partially, this can be explained by economic connections and cultural affinities that are much.

How did a region that had limited recent experience with mass immigration flows pivot so quickly to do this? Some parts of this can be explained by cultural affinities and economic ties that are much constricted, although not always uncomplicated, in-between immediate neighbors.

Nevertheless, international leadership may have been helpful as well. By the time the agencies of the United Nations, as well as of international donors, started focusing on the region, the Latin American nations had already developed their pattern for welcoming migrants and avoided the notion of "granting refugee status to favor treatment of the migrants' recent arrivals."

Additionally, as part of the different and creative measures for migration response, the region has also developed unique ways of providing the migrants legal status, work-based visas, temporary protections, the utilization of regional mobility agreements under Mercosur and Unasur, or not too often, asylum.

Undeniably, such measures have been quite imperfect. The majority of the arriving migrants look for a job in the new country hosting them. However, it is typically in the informal economy, even for people with considerable skills like engineers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, and doctors. Education is free, although, in practice, it is frequently challenging to have a child without the necessary documentation, registered in school.

Relatively, most countries in Latin America, with the remarkable exceptions of Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, and Costa Rica, had begun to make it more difficult for migrants to come in even before the COVID-19 crisis had the borders closed further. This means growth in the irregular populace in most nations, and greater dependence on smugglers to move people.

The absence of international attention, though, cuts both ways. This may well have contributed to the local improvement within Latin America, although it also means that nations have been left alone to handle overcrowded schools, housing, and hospitals in major communities that receive migrants.


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