Intraregional Migration Trends in Central America

Abstract

Central American countries are traditionally perceived as expulsing countries of migrants looking for a dream of progress associated with the possibility of living in a developed country, i. e., North-South migration is being reproduced as the most known migration existing. However, in the last years, South-South migration has augmented as a consequence of the increasing interdependency, the processes of regional integration, and the recognition of common problems. Central America is not the exception. Even in recent years, it has become a region of temporary reception of non-Central American migrants also coming from countries with similar socio-economic conditions. This article presents a general discussion of trends and challenges of the region and how this generates impacts on migration. Problems such as environmental vulnerability, family reunification resulting in unaccompanied children migration, counter-positions in national security policies, and mobility freedom, among others, are aspects present in the current Central American debate, and how migration issue has become relevant in recent years. Actually, this issue went from being just a matter of giving support to the Central American migrant who is leaving to the need of proposing common policies for the care of extra-regional migrants, as well as of returned and deported population.