This is How Migration Trends Are Changing in 2023 as More South Americans Travel North

This year has seen a record number of migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. While some in the U.S. might think of migrants as a monolithic group, new data from The Dialogue, a nonprofit organization that promotes social equity in Latin America, provides granular information on where migrants are originate from and how migration patterns are evolving.

According to The Dialogue, between January 2021 and September 2023, some 7.5 million migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrant arrivals in 2022 and 2023 have been the highest in the period. The data indicates that these numbers amount to about 7,800 migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border daily.

One way in which migration to the U.S. has changed is in its demographics. Historically, single males were the largest group of people who migrated to the U.S. Now, one out of every twenty migrants is an unaccompanied minor. It is also more common for entire families to emigrate from Latin America to the U.S. According to The Dialogue, families make up 30 percent of all migrants arriving at the border.

The Dialogue also analyzed the root causes of family migration and found that political instability was a significant factor. This is particularly evident in countries like Venezuela and Haiti, where instability can lead to economic crises and organized crime. As per the data, these conditions have created an urgent need for people to leave their countries, with one in four Central American households intending to migrate.

Another way migration trends have shifted is that there are now more migrants coming from South American and Caribbean countries than in the past. According to The Dialogue, more people are crossing through the Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle region that connects South and Central America. This year, some 400,000 people have traversed the Darien Gap, which is approximately double the number of migrants that crossed in 2022. Of the people crossing the gap this year, a majority of whom are being trafficked, 90.74% originate from South America and the Caribbean.

Migrants from the Caribbean and other countries, such as China, India, and Afghanistan, are considered extra-continental travelers, accounting for 9.26% of all migrants. The majority of extra-continental travelers travel to South America and cross through the Darien Gap. Most Cuban and Haitian migrants, on their part, travel to Nicaragua before heading up north.

According to The Dialogue, between August and October of this year, 30,000 Haitian and Cuban migrants arrived in Nicaragua aboard some 260 chartered flights and continued their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. Since the start of the year, an estimated 100,000 Haitian and Cuban migrants have used Nicaragua as a stopover to reach the U.S. However, the government recently imposed a temporary ban on charter flights carrying migrants.