E.g., 04/18/2024
E.g., 04/18/2024
South America

South America

With the exodus of more than 5.6 million Venezuelans, South America is experiencing major change in its migration flows and policies. Beyond the immediate migration and humanitarian crisis, the region has experienced more movement in recent years, chiefly for labor reasons, with Brazil the preferred destination for migration from outside the continent.

South American migration beyond the region is chiefly to the United States and Europe. The research offered here sketches the dynamism of South America's migration and refugee trends and policies.

A Venezuelan woman in Ecuador after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine
Reports

Converging Crises: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in South America

The COVID-19 pandemic hit South American nations at a time when many were already contending with major migration challenges. Historic levels of intraregional migration and displacement, notably from Venezuela, collided with countries’ attempts to stop the spread of a new threat to public health. This report examines the region’s responses to the public-health crisis, and the immediate and lasting impacts on cross-border movement.

Migrants in the Darien Gap village of Canaan Membrillo, Panama.
Articles

How the Treacherous Darien Gap Became a Migration Crossroads of the Americas

Passage through the Darien Gap has transformed migration across the Americas. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken the incredibly perilous journey across the remote jungle between Colombia and Panama, risking exposure to hazardous terrain, criminal groups, and other dangers. As this article outlines, governments have struggled to respond to the growing movement, expected to top 500,000 crossings in 2023.

MPIenEspanol Featured Image Venezuela Blurred

Featured

MPI publishes its content most on point to migration policies, trends, and immigrant populations in Latin America and Spain in Spanish. You can access all of our Spanish-language content, including reports, commentaries, multimedia, and press releases, here, as well as sign up for updates when we publish Spanish-language content and learn more about our Latin America and Caribbean Migration Portal.

Recent Activity

How Will International Migration Policy and Sustainable Development Affect Future Climate-Related Migration?
Reports
December 2020
How Will International Migration Policy and Sustainable Development Affect Future Climate-Related Migration?
By  Robert McLeman
2020 IOM MuseMohammad Border area of Haquillas is home to several Venezuelans
Multimedia
October 27, 2020
Un Diálogo con Miembros de Coalición por Venezuela
climate change migration flood
Articles
October 23, 2020
Climate Impacts as Drivers of Migration
By Alex de Sherbinin
coverthumb_immigrantes crimen
Policy Briefs
September 2020
Inmigrantes venezolanos, crimen y percepciones falsas: Un análisis de los datos en Colombia, Perú y Chile
By  Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee
coverthumb_crime migration
Policy Briefs
September 2020
Venezuelan Migration, Crime, and Misperceptions: A Review of Data from Colombia, Peru, and Chile
By  Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee
IOM MUSE MOHAMMED E72A7384
Multimedia
August 27, 2020
Esclareciendo el Panorama: Una mirada a los datos sobre migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe
coverthumb_venezuelan profile sp
Fact Sheets
August 2020
Un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe
By  Diego Chaves-González and Carlos Echeverría-Estrada
coverthumb_venezuelan profile eng
Fact Sheets
August 2020
Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Profile
By  Diego Chaves-González and Carlos Echeverría-Estrada

Pages

worldbank bogota traffic
Feature
August 23, 2016
Free Movement in South America: The Emergence of an Alternative Model?

In contrast to increasingly restrictive approaches to migration in the global North—and recent skepticism towards Europe's free mobility project—South America is taking steps in the other direction, toward free movement for regional migrants. This article examines the emerging South American model and discusses its implications for migration in the region and for free movement in general.

LittleBrazil DiegoTorresSilvestre Flickr
Spotlight
July 13, 2016
Brazilian Immigrants in the United States

The Brazilian immigrant population in the United States doubled during the 1980s and almost tripled in the 1990s, but stabilized following the Great Recession. While this population has long included a significant share of unauthorized immigrants, Brazilians are increasingly coming to the United States through family, employment, and study channels. Learn more about Brazilian immigrants with this Spotlight.

Zika PAHO Flickr
Feature
July 7, 2016
When Outbreaks Go Global: Migration and Public Health in a Time of Zika

News of the Zika virus outbreak in Latin America has raised alarm bells, resulting in scattered calls for tighter restrictions on international entries to the United States. Evidence shows, however, that closing borders and restrictions on international travel tend to have little impact on the spread of infectious diseases. This feature article explores the linkages between public health and migration in the Americas.

ThomasHawk CarnavalSF2015 Flickr
Spotlight
March 1, 2016
South American Immigrants in the United States

Growing rapidly from a population of 90,000 in 1960 to nearly 3 million in 2014, South American immigrants now represent 7 percent of all foreign born in the United States. Family-based immigration is the primary pathway for all South American groups, ranging from 45 percent of Venezuelan immigrants to 97 percent of those from Guyana.

stjc nt ColombiaTumacoDisplacedCommunity Flickr
Feature
January 14, 2016
Protecting the Forcibly Displaced: Latin America’s Evolving Refugee and Asylum Framework

Signed more than 30 years ago, the Cartagena Declaration sought to address rising flows of refugees and establish regional solidarity in refugee protection in Latin America. This article explores the evolution of refugee and asylum policies in Latin America amid the long-running Colombian civil war, as well as the region's response to the current global refugee crisis.

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Recent Activity

Reports
December 2020

How Will International Migration Policy and Sustainable Development Affect Future Climate-Related Migration?

Climate change is likely to increase the intensity of extreme-weather events already shaping human mobility and displacement. The nature, scale, and direction of future climate-related migration will depend on many factors. This report takes stock of the influence that different combinations of migration, development, and climate policies could have on migration in regions around the world for the 2020-2050 and 2050-2100 periods, using a first-of-its-kind systematic exercise.

Audio, Webinars
October 27, 2020

Un Diálogo con Miembros de Coalición por Venezuela

En dicho diálogo, algunos de los representantes de las organizaciones que conforman la red en Norteamérica, Centroamérica, Sudamérica y el Caribe, comparten la manera como se coordinan, las acciones que se llevan a cabo y las dificultades, retos y desafíos que atraviesan.

Articles
October 23, 2020

Climate Impacts as Drivers of Migration

Climate change is affecting human movement now, causing internal displacement and international migration, and will do so in the future. But the impact is often indirect, and rarely is the process as straightforward as one might think. This article provides an overview of research on how climatic hazards drive and affect migration, reviewing which types of people might migrate and under what conditions.

Policy Briefs
September 2020

Inmigrantes venezolanos, crimen y percepciones falsas: Un análisis de los datos en Colombia, Perú y Chile

Más de 4 millones de venezolanos han migrado a otros países de América Latina y el Caribe, lo que ha generado preocupación sobre cómo estas llegadas están afectando a las comunidades receptoras. Algunos políticos y expertos han afirmado que la migración está provocando un incremento en la delincuencia, un argumento que este informe examina a través de un análisis detallado de los datos de Chile, Colombia y Perú.

Policy Briefs
September 2020

Venezuelan Migration, Crime, and Misperceptions: A Review of Data from Colombia, Peru, and Chile

More than 4 million Venezuelans have moved to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, raising concerns about how these arrivals are affecting receiving communities. Some politicians and pundits have asserted that migration is leading to an increase in crime—a claim this issue brief finds misplaced based on examination of official data from Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

Video, Audio, Webinars
August 27, 2020

Esclareciendo el Panorama: Una mirada a los datos sobre migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe

En este webinar, expertos de la región discutieron acerca del perfil demográfico de los refugiados y migrantes venezolanos en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Perú, Trinidad y Tobago y Uruguay.

Fact Sheets
August 2020

Un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe

Los países de América Latina y del Caribe se están enfrentando a un desafío doble. Por un lado, deben manejar un flujo masivo de venezolanos entrando a sus países, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, deben enfocar sus esfuerzos en controlar el virus del COVID-19. Esta ficha técnica presenta un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos que viajaron a través de 11 países.

Fact Sheets
August 2020

Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Profile

As Latin American and Caribbean countries face a dual challenge—managing large-scale Venezuelan arrivals alongside the COVID-19 pandemic—reliable data on the characteristics of newcomers are essential to policymaking. This MPI-IOM fact sheet offers a profile of refugees and migrants in 11 countries in the region, including their demographics, labor market participation, remittance sending, access to health care, trip details, and intention to return to Venezuela.

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