Venezuela faces extreme economic and social hardship at the hands of its authoritarian president Nicolas Maduro. More than 7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015 and many who stayed face hunger, violence, and unemployment. There are many factors motivating Venezuelans to migrate to other American countries and take treacherous journeys across the Americas. When focusing on the United States in particular, we see legislation aimed at containing the numbers of migrants whilst also attempting to open the country’s borders in a sustainable and safe way.
There are many factors pushing Venezuelans to migrate including lack of economic opportunities, the oppressiveness of the government, threats of violence, and lack of appropriate food and housing. Venezuela is the only country in peacetime -meaning Venezuela is not in an active war- that has managed to cause a decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 80%. Many struggle to afford three meals a day, access healthcare, access clean water and safe shelter at night. These conditions push many to seek better opportunities outside of Venezuela. Maduro’s government has long cracked down on the opposition and protesters. These policies of repression have only gotten worse since the Covid pandemic, as the government declared a state of emergency and used this as a pretext to strengthen their control of the country. These factors are the principal motivators that have led to the second largest migration crisis in the world.
Many Venezuelans relocate to countries within the Americas, most notably Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and the USA. Early on in the crisis, Latin American countries were welcoming to the influx of Venezuelans and provided them with support like visa waivers, humanitarian aid, and the ability to find jobs and enter the education system. Many of the migrants are young people with the potential of boosting the economies of these South American countries as they help grow the workforce. Some experts estimate that migrants have the potential to raise the GDP in certain host countries by up to 4.5%. Indeed, as noted by the non-partisan Immigration Policy Institute, as a whole today’s Venezuelan adults migrants “have higher rates of educational attainment than both the native- and overall foreign-born populations.” It is important to note that overtime some Latin American countries have started to introduce more laws to accommodate the migrants whilst others have begun to close their doors on the Venezuelans. With over 6 million displaced Venezuelans in South America alone it is essential that these countries work together and receive assistance from international bodies to support and rehabilitate these migrants.
As previously mentioned, the USA is a desirable destination for many Venezuelans; however the journey is not an easy one. The number of Venezuelan immigrants in the USA has nearly tripled since 2010 which coincides with the start of Venezuela's economic turmoil. Migrants travel up through Colombia and Panama and are forced to transit through the dangerous Darién Gap which is a 100 mile stretch of unavoidable, lawless, and treacherous terrain. Roughly 250,000 refugees from various nations made this trek in 2022 through the muddy jungle terrain where they face deadly species of spiders and snakes, dehydration, injury without medical assistance, predatory gang violence, and getting lost in the dense forest. Heart-breaking stories of families having to leave members behind because some were too slow are now being told by those who made it through the Darién Gap.
A photo of a mother and child crossing the Darien Gap, Panama.
Once passing through this difficult terrain, many migrants still face the danger of exploitation as they are very vulnerable. It is impossible to carry supplies for the months people will spend walking so many need to carry money with them to buy supplies on the way. For those immigrants who are of a low-income status, the money they have on their person may be all the money they have. This puts them at risk of people extorting them and robbing helpless and unprotected migrants. In extreme cases migrants have reported stories of kidnapping, rape, and even murder. Many are forced to pay bribes to border patrols and certain gangs just to work their way through Central America. Once they reach the border between the USA and Mexico crossing is still very dangerous. To cross illegally, many immigrants choose to hire a people smuggler, or coyote, who will require them to pay a hefty sum with what little money they have left. This is the last leg of their journey into the USA. However, once they enter the country the safety of their future is not guaranteed. Accidental drownings in the rivers that separate Mexico from the United States and fatal death and sickness from dehydration in the southern deserts of the U.S. are not uncommon.
The USA still has policies in place to restrict the number of Venezuelans entering the country. During the Covid Pandemic, the Trump administration issued Title 42 which allows the government to expel asylum seekers without even allowing them to apply for asylum. There are other actions in place to try to reduce the numbers of Venezuelans and others immigrating to the United States illegally. Biden has implemented a policy in which the government does not grant protection to immigrants who have circumvented laws to enter the US. On the other hand, he has added a new legal pathway for 24,000 Venezuelans who meet specific criteria. These migrants will need to apply and be accepted in a third country before they enter the US and they will need an economic sponsor already in the country. This plan is idealistic as it assumes Venezuelans will have family or friends to sponsor them and that they will be able to apply and then wait for acceptance before finding a way to fly to the USA. Although a new app in Spanish was developed by the Administration to ease the process of navigating U.S. asylum claims, the roll out of this new system has been criticized for its inefficiency and the complexity of the information required to file a claim.
In conclusion, the options for these migrants are limited but many are still hopeful for a better life in other Latin American countries and in the USA. The economic and political situation within the country is not getting better and as countries like the U.S. start to make it harder for Venezuelans to enter their options for places to migrate to gets slimmer. Besides the risks they may face along the way, hundreds of thousands still make these trips. Internationally, there needs to be a more targeted approach to rehabilitating these refugees and offering them a safe and secure new home or changing the conditions within Venezuela so that its native sons and daughters can safely return home and begin the long and arduous journey of restoring their country to its former promise.
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