Scaling Up Refugee Resettlement and Other Protection Pathways for Central Americans May Be Challenging but U.S., Canadian Policymakers & Others Should Do, New Brief Argues

WASHINGTON — The exodus of hundreds of thousands of Central Americans from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since 2014 has changed the face of migration throughout the region, with many seeking protection via increasingly strained asylum systems in the United States and Mexico. Asylum applications in Mexico rose 3,739 percent between 2015 and 2021, with Central Americans comprising a large share of applicants. And in the United States, Central Americans represented 44 percent of all asylum claims submitted in U.S. immigration courts in fiscal year (FY) 2021.