{"id":12486,"date":"2022-10-25T17:56:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/?p=12486"},"modified":"2022-10-25T17:56:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:56:13","slug":"fact-finding-mission-examines-conditions-in-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/our-impact\/immigrant-rights\/fact-finding-mission-examines-conditions-in-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-Finding Mission Examines Conditions in Central America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A Closer Look: Fact-Finding Mission Examines Conditions in Central America<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fact-finding Delegation Documents Push and Pull Factors of Migration from Central America<\/em><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to recent migration trends, Centro Presente, Alianza Americas, GreenRoots, and Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) conducted a week-long fact-finding mission in August to witness and investigate the conditions in Central America. The delegation has now released a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a>\u00a0outlining its findings along with recommendations for federal and local governments to be better equipped to address current migration patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;report&nbsp;\u2013\u2013 titled&nbsp;<em>\u201c<\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fleeing Not Migrating: Crisis in Central America<\/a>\u201d \u2013<\/em>\u2013is a snapshot of the conditions and observations that the delegation documented through visits with community leaders, human rights and environmental justice advocates, academics, researchers, legal scholars, and journalists in Honduras and Guatemala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The alarming conditions outlined in the report are reconfirmed by the lived experience of migrants who reach the United States, including those who cross Central America and Mexico. Migrants report extremely dangerous conditions including extortion, kidnapping, sexual violence, and mutilation. For example, one of LCR&#8217;s clients was kidnapped and tortured. His teeth were&nbsp;removed with pliers. These harrowing conditions affect people living in &#8212; and traveling through &#8212; the region.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Honduras, the delegation met with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Grupo Sociedad Civil (GSC)<br><\/li><li>Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n y Promoci\u00f3n de los Derechos Humanos (CIPRODEH)<br><\/li><li>La&nbsp;Via&nbsp;Campesina&nbsp;<br><\/li><li>Consejo C\u00edvico de Organizaciones Populares e Ind\u00edgenas de Honduras (COPINH)<br><\/li><li>Casa Alianza<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In Guatemala, the delegation met with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Indigenous leader and academic\u00a0Gladyz\u00a0Tzul\u00a0<br><\/li><li>Human rights attorney Oswaldo Samayoa<br><\/li><li>Award-winning journalist Haroldo S\u00e1nchez\u00a0<br><\/li><li>Agencia Ocote<br><\/li><li>Asociaci\u00f3n Pop No\u2019j<br><\/li><li>Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0report\u00a0details\u00a0the conditions that push many Central Americans to migrate to the United States: a toxic and fatal combination of violence, political persecution, extreme poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and most recently, the devastating effects of the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a>\u00a0is organized around seven major thematic areas:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Forces of Migration<br><\/li><li>Economic Forces in Central America<br><\/li><li>Freedom of the Press<br><\/li><li>Corruption and Impunity\u00a0<br><\/li><li>Vulnerable Populations in Central America<br><\/li><li>Environmental Justice and Climate Change<br><\/li><li>U.S. Government Involvement and Responsibility\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a>\u00a0also outlines recommendations and policy changes designed to strengthen U.S. immigration law and policy.\u00a0\u201cGlobal migration is a real issue. It cannot be overlooked, nor can we deter it. Instead, we must actively work to understand the complexities and nuances of migration to better serve those in our communities,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Mirian Albert<\/strong>, Staff Attorney at\u00a0<strong>Lawyers for Civil Rights<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Widespread corruption and impunity continues to undermine public trust in the authorities and the justice system,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Patricia Montes<\/strong>, Executive Director of\u00a0<strong>Centro Presente<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of our principal findings is that people don\u2019t want to abandon their countries of origin: they are being forced to flee because of a toxic mix of violence, impunity, back-sliding democratic practices, and climate change disasters,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Oscar Chac\u00f3n<\/strong>, Executive Director of\u00a0<strong>Alianza Americas<\/strong>. \u201cThe U.S. government should tailor policy towards Central America that accounts for the new realities. At the very least, this should include expanding our limited existing humanitarian protection mechanisms, including TPS, to account for people displaced by climate change events, as well as other humanitarian protection challenges.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOfficials, policymakers, lawyers, and community leaders should become more familiar with the root causes of migration to better understand why families, women, and children are forced to flee their homes. This is especially useful to better serve the growing Central American and immigrant population in the United States,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Hazel Contreras<\/strong>, Coordinator for Central America at\u00a0<strong>Alianza Americas.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs an environmental justice organization based in an immigrant community, we know that transnational solidarity and the understanding of the root causes of migration are not only critical but necessary in order to address systems of oppression,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Maria Belen Power<\/strong>, Associate Executive Director of\u00a0<strong>GreenRoots<\/strong>. \u201cThe struggle for land sovereignty, protection of our natural resources and forced migration are tightly bound.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCentral American migrants do not leave their home country willingly. The real reasons that push so many Hondurans and Guatemalans to flee are the entrenched inequities, extreme food insecurity, alarming femicide rates, and the erosion of democracy across Central America,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Iv\u00e1n Espinoza-Madrigal<\/strong>, Executive Director of\u00a0<strong>Lawyers for Civil Rights<\/strong>. \u201cWe must ensure that we have the appropriate mechanisms in place to address this humanitarian crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report is available here:\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please cite this report as: \u201cFleeing Not Migrating: Crisis in Central America,\u201d Lawyers For Civil Rights, Alianza Americas, Centro Presente &amp; GreenRoots (Oct. 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"bottom\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"off\">Final-Delegation-Report-for-Public-Release<\/a>\n<p class=\"wp-block-pdfemb-pdf-embedder-viewer\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Closer Look: Fact-Finding Mission Examines Conditions in Central America Fact-finding Delegation Documents Push and Pull Factors of Migration from Central America&nbsp; In response to recent migration trends, Centro Presente, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12487,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486\/revisions\/12487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}