Investing in Alternatives to Irregular Migration from Central America: Options to Expand U.S. Employment Pathways

Since 2014, migration from Central American countries to the United States has been steadily increasing. This growing population of migrants, many of whom are fleeing unsafe conditions or seeking economic opportunity, underscores the pressing need for strong regional partnership and coordination between the United States and its southern neighbors to bolster orderly and legal migration, whether temporary or permanent in nature. Such migration not only serves the interests of Central American workers,  but also of employers in the U.S. who are struggling to find workers, especially in the agricultural sector.The Migration Policy Institute’s “Investing in Alternatives to Irregular Migration from Central America: Options to Expand U.S. Employment Pathways” by Cristobal Ramón explores a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term opportunities for managing Central American migration. Short-term policy recommendations focus on expansion of the H-2A and H-2B temporary worker programs, which are not used extensively by Central American workers. One recommendation would cover some or all of the employers’ costs to transport H-2A Central American workers to the United States; another would create an exemption to the H-2B cap for Central American countries. Medium-term solutions center around the creation of new safe and effective worker recruitment programs. Finally, long-term options include adding new visa categories, creating pathways for temporary workers to access permanent residency, amending immigration law to allow workers on temporary visas to switch employers after a specific period of time, strengthening the labor enforcement system to prevent worker abuse, and eliminating legal provisions that restrict which groups of immigrants can be served by legal aid organizations that receive federal funding. (Kyla Schmidt for the Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)

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