Protections, Pathways for Central American Migrants

A caravan of asylum seekers, originally composed of a few hundred Hondurans, has now swelled to include 7,000 people—at least half of them children—as it advances through Mexico towards the United States. Their plight of heartbreak, exhaustion, and courage is a powerful example of the interconnected nature of our current reality and shared future as people of the Americas: the United States is complicit in creating the conditions that are driving people from Honduras and now responsible for calling for protections for the caravan as its members seek safety.

Alianza Americas, working with Latin American Working Group, Centro Presente, CARECEN-DC, and the Inter-Faith Immigration Coalition, brought Miroslava Cerpas to Washington, DC to provide a first-hand testimony what’s driving families from Honduras. Miroslava is an advocate with Honduran human-rights organization CIPODEH and accompanied the caravan through part of its trek through Central America. Hear her thoughts on why her fellow Hondurans are fleeing:

In a three-day series of meetings with members of Congress, community leaders and other stakeholders, Miroslava shared harrowing tales of government repression, heartwarming anecdotes of transnational community support, and evidence of the troubling realties of the violence and poverty that are driving Central Americans from their homes.

Alianza Americas has taken to the media to call out President Trump’s manipulation of the caravan for political gain, raise awareness of how the United States contributed to the current crisis, and to echo pleas for humanitarian protections for families fleeing violence.

• Democracy Now: The U.S. Helped Destabilize Honduras. Now Honduran Migrants Are Fleeing Political & Economic Crisis
• NPR: Trump and GOP Stoke Fears of Migrant Caravan
• New York Times: Migrant Caravan Driven by Hope but Uncertain of Success
• Medium: What is the Honduras Caravan really telling us?  
• Press Release: Caravan Highlights Urgent Need for Protections, Pathways for Central Americans Seeking Safety

Moving forward, Alianza Americas will mobilize on-the-ground supports for the caravan as it makes its way across Mexico, and re-double its calls for the United States to respect internationally-recognized rights to seek asylum in the United States.

Your support will fund this critical short-term work, as well as Alianza Americas’ ongoing efforts to foster publish research, coordinate transnational delegations, and build policies that protect families, both in their countries of origin and along the migration corridor.