The Refugee Influx - Latin American And Caribbean Refugees

The majority of refugee admissions from Latin America and the Caribbean have been from Cuba. Admission of Cubans as refugees is governed by the U.S.–Cuba Bilateral Migration Agreement, in effect since September 9, 1994. The United States agreed that a minimum of 20,000 Cubans could lawfully migrate to the United States each year. Cuba, on the other hand, took measures to prevent its citizens from embarking on unsafe journeys to reach the United States.

According to the president's Proposed Refugee Admissions for FY 2005—Report to Congress, the UNHCR estimated that as of January 1, 2004, the total number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other people of concern in Latin America and the Caribbean was close to 1.5 million. Of those, about 48,000 were Colombians who had fled the continuing conflict in their country. As many as 2.1 million more were displaced within Colombia. Among the other nationals seeking refuge in 2003 were 30,000 Cubans and close to 26,000 Haitians. The UNHCR was helping to establish procedures for granting asylum in a number of countries in the region with large refugee populations, including Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Peru.