Immigration News: April, 2005 - Volume 12

Latin America

The Inter-American Development Bank estimated that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean were $45.8 billion in 2004, exceeding foreign investment and official development assistance for the third year in a row; about 38 percent of the remittances went to Mexico. The IAD estimated that 25 million Latin Americans live and work outside their country of citizenship. Remittances to developing countries were believed to be $120 billion in 2004.

In March 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that over 440 Dominican and Haitian migrants were intercepted trying to reach Puerto Rico in small boats. The Dominican Republic, with 8.8 million residents, is in the midst of an economic crisis, as is Haiti, with 8.1 million residents.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement is due to be taken up by Congress in April-May 2005. In an unusual twist, some US textile firms favor Cafta as a way to compete with China: under Cafta, textile imports must include US-made cloth, so US firms could ship cloth to Central America, where some of the 400,000 apparel workers could sew it into clothes.

Central America. During Central American civil wars, millions came to the US, but were often in limbo for a decade or more, as their applications for asylum were rejected but they were not deported; in the late 1990s, most were allowed to become legal immigrants. Gangs formed among youth in many families, and those who were convicted of US crimes and were not naturalized US citizens were subject to deportation when they completed their sentences. Between 1993 and 2003, the US deported over 40,000 criminals to Central America.

El Salvador and Honduras have taken harsh measures against returning gang members, including imprisoning some upon arrival. Salvadoran police estimate there are 10,000 gang members among six million residents, and they conduct periodic raids on gang members and associates.

The Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 and MS-18 gangs that have their roots in Los Angeles are among the most feared, and in April 2005 the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala issued an international plea for help in providing jobs to deported criminals so that they do not begin gang activities in areas with weaker police and courts.

Central American countries in the 1990s created up to 500,000 jobs in garment factories that helped lift many families out of poverty by paying wages of $5 a day. The end of the 1974 Multi-Fiber Agreement in January 2005 is reducing employment in garment factories around the world, as production shifts to China, which offers both low wages and economies of scale in producing large volumes at low cost. About 70 percent of the garments assembled in Central America are exported to the US, so the closure of garment factories is expected to increase emigration to the US.

Brazil. Brazil, the world's fifth most populous country with 180 million residents, has one of the world's most unequal distribution of income. There has been an economic boom recently, and one result is increased emigration of the poor. Mexico ended visa requirements for Brazilians in 2002 and falling airfares encouraged more Brazilians to fly to Mexico and attempt to enter the US. Some 8,600 Brazilians were apprehended attempting illegal entry into the US via Mexico in FY04 and 20,000 are expected to be apprehended in FY05.

There are about three million Brazilians abroad, including 800,000 in the US. Brazilians in the US sometimes provide the $1,500 needed for their relatives to buy a plane ticket to Mexico and take a bus to the US-Mexican border. Many use smugglers to get them to Boston, the US city with the most Brazilians.

Panama. The 51-mile long Panama Canal, completed in 1914 and turned over to Panama in December 1999, can accommodate ships up to 965 feet long, forcing "post-Panamax ships" that can hold 8,000 standard 20-foot containers or their equivalent, double a Panamax ship's capacity, to bypass the canal. Panama is likely to undertake a $5 billion project to create a parallel set of locks that would accommodate ships up to 1,265 feet long. More than the current maximum 42 ships a day could be accommodated with parallel locks.

Expansion might take 10 years and 10,000 workers. Building the Panama Canal brought waves of migrants, especially from the Caribbean, many of whom died until tropical diseases such as malaria were brought under control.

Joel Millman, "Brazilian Influx Tests Theories of How to Stem Northward Flow to US," Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2005.