Ever since Donald Trump changed the rules of migratory flows on the continent, forcing migrants to head south, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, has a great challenge ahead of her. Faced with deportations and hostile U.S. policies, migrants face the dilemma of whether to return to the countries they fled to escape violence or poverty, or start a life in Mexico and seek a livelihood to fulfill it. Pope – who was Biden’s top adviser on immigration policy and served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser – seeks to unblock Mexican bureaucratic pathways and obtain residences for migrants who wish to work. He assures that employers want to incorporate them into their workforce, but that authorization can currently take months. “If we look at the president’s ambitious plan for Mexico 2030, we see that he is determined to stimulate economic growth. He is determined to see more investment and the expansion of job opportunities here in Mexico. But, to achieve this, they will have to find ways to hire migrant workers,” he says in an interview from the InterContinental Presidente hotel in Polanco.
Ask. In his fifth visit to Mexico, his main goal is to open dialogue with companies to integrate migrants residing in Mexico into the workforce. How did the conversations go?
Answer. We heard unanimously and overwhelmingly the interest of companies in hiring migrants. We also know that migrants are looking for work. The key is to make sure they have the work permit and the necessary documentation to be able to connect them with companies.
Q. How did they get companies to see the integration of immigrants as a workforce as an interesting opportunity?
R. It’s actually not very difficult to sell and it’s something that companies themselves already see as an opportunity. There is currently a labor shortage and a very low level of employment in Mexico. Many of the companies we speak to are looking for workers.
Q. In one of your previous visits, in February last year, you achieved collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accelerate the inclusion of migrant workers through the Tent Partnership for Refugees programme. Have there been any results since then?
R. Yes, but not at the level we would like. When looking for why, it all comes down to getting people to complete the paperwork. For example, if a migrant does not have the necessary documentation, but receives a job offer, he could be allowed to regularize his situation quickly so that he can take advantage of it. It’s something that could be done. We also know that sometimes there is a discrepancy between the location of jobs (in the north) and that of migrants (in the south). It is easier to solve this problem if we can get workers a work permit and then help them get to jobs.
Q. And how will it be guaranteed that the jobs they access are decent jobs, with legal conditions and fair wages?
R. This is an important role that the government must integrate into its planning. Accessing the formal economy is the first step, and ensuring adequate oversight and fair work and wage standards is the next step.
Q. Trump’s immigration policies have reversed the situation of migratory flows. What is the situation currently like on American routes?
R. We have seen a sea change in migration in the Americas. There are not the same number of migrants heading north and there are fewer migrants crossing the Darien by a very significant margin. Now, for the first time, we see migrants heading south, and there are many stuck in Mexico because they don’t have the means to get home. Even in Central America, in Costa Rica and Panama, because they don’t have the means to cross the Darién and go south. These remain serious bottlenecks. We know from the migrants we speak to that they face enormous danger and exploitation, even when they try to return home. That hasn’t changed.
Q. However, deportations under Trump have not exceeded those recorded under Biden, but people perceive this administration as more aggressive and experience it with more terror.
R. I think the real difference here is that the migrants are making the decision to head south. During the Biden era we have rarely seen southward flows. Now, seeing no opportunities and hearing how the law is enforced in the United States, migrants choose not to leave. We perceive that the number of deportations is higher because the route of entry into the United States is nonexistent and because the climate in the United States is hostile.
Q. With these new migratory trends, how will criminal organizations dedicated to human trafficking adapt?
R. If there is no legal and safe route established by the government for people to move, traffickers fill these gaps. It’s a supply and demand issue and without the ability for people to move around on a visa, for example, with a job opportunity, people will turn to a smuggler or a trafficker. This does not mean that the only solution is to have the option to migrate to the United States. There are job needs all over the hemisphere: Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and around the world. There is an opportunity right now to reframe and rethink how human mobility works and to develop solutions that are more inclusive and more responsive to the way the world is evolving right now.
