Expanding Access to Protections for Refugees and Migrants in Central America and Mexico

This May, WOLA together with seven other civil society organizations presented a document calling on U.S. and regional officials to improve protections for migrants and refugees in Central America and Mexico. While the document includes alternatives to making the dangerous journey to the U.S. border, it emphasizes that protection at the U.S. border is equally important, and that a “safe, fair, orderly and humane asylum process should be fully and immediately restored.”

The document’s recommendations are broken up into six sections focusing on steps to::

1. Improve the Central American Minors (CAM) Program
2. Expand and improve the capacity of the Protection Transfer Arrangement (PTA) 
3. Launch a regional resettlement program 
4. Support Mexico’s asylum system and child welfare institutions 
5. Support safe integration of returned migrants & protection of internally displaced persons 
6. Reform alternative pathways to migration-labor

The Biden administration is continuing to develop a strategy to address the root causes of migration forcing many to flee their homes. However, for those already making the journey and who cannot afford to wait, these recommendations act as guidance to ensure their safety, humane treatment, and an infrastructure capable of accommodating them and guaranteeing their human rights.

Read the document in full here.