HRW calls for the protection of migrants after they were discussed in the presidential debate

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A global human rights watchdog on Wednesday called on Latin American governments to improve protection schemes, grant legal status and reverse “onerous visa requirements” for millions of Haitians and Venezuelans who have struggled to find work, access to health care and education in South American host countries, forcing them to increasingly seek asylum in the United States.

Human Rights Watch, in a report describing the situation of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants, said that “limited” integration and regularization policies in South America are forcing vulnerable people to head to the United States every month. To reach the U.S. border, many asylum seekers make a long, dangerous journey that includes crossing the Darien Gap, a roadless swath of jungle between Colombia and Panama.

“What we have documented through the course of our investigation over the last couple of years is how the lack of safe and legal pathways has pushed migrants and asylum seekers to cross the dangerous Darien Gap,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director of HRW, during a presentation of the report in Bogota.