Haiti in the Americas. Breaking Points in Migration Policies and Haitian Mobilities in the Continent (2010-2023)

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the regional panorama that has favored the deployment of new Haitian mobilities in the Americas from 2010 to 2023, with the implementation of the new mobile application (the CBP One) developed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and which must be used by asylum seekers to obtain a place in line at the southern border or in certain specific countries. The first part focuses on the internal factors in Haiti that pushed thousands of people to try their luck in Latin America. The second part focuses on the factors that attracted Haitian emigration to Latin America in the second decade of the 21st century, such as migration policies and economic dynamics of certain South American countries. The third part questions the breaking points in migration policies that favored a new Haitian exodus to the United States. This contribution proposes a portrait of different migration policies of the last thirteen years in the continent, analyzed through the prism of Haitian migration. This paper is based on ethnographic observations and interviews conducted with Haitian migrants in several Mexican border cities (Tijuana, Mexicali, Tapachula) and in Mexico City; it also uses personal communications in shelters and by phone with Haitians in different places on their way to the United States. These observations, interviews and personal communications were carried out between 2019 and 2023.