Impossible Choices: Migration from Honduras during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Oct 18

Oct 18 Impossible Choices: Migration from Honduras during the Covid-19 Pandemic

In March, the United States and its neighbours closed their borders, hoping to stem the spread of Covid-19. As a result, the number of migrants entering the U.S. fell dramatically. US Customs & Border Control reported that in Fiscal Year 2020, only 399,770 people have been apprehended while crossing the border, compared to the 977,509 apprehended in Fiscal Year 2019. However, as borders in Central America tentatively reopen to tourism and recreational entry, the number of migrants has begun to soar once again. On October 1st, the first migrant caravan of 2020 left Honduras, composed of 3,000 Hondurans bound for the U.S. border, hoping for better economic opportunities and an improved quality of life.

The global economy is suffering due to Covid-19. The immediate story of the impact of the virus on the economy has been a tale of rising unemployment and falling markets, with potentially devastating effects in the long term. The World Bank predicts that the global economy will shrink by 5.2% in 2020, dropping it into the worst economic recession since World War II. However, the economic devastation of Covid-19 will have an even more drastic effect on developing countries. The World Bank’s baseline projection is that 71 to 100 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020, with more than half concentrated in countries that already suffer from high poverty rates. The economic repercussions of the coronavirus will disproportionately affect disadvantaged regions and countries.

The Honduran economy is particularly vulnerable to this disproportionality. In the past three years, the economy has been declining, and it will face even more dire circumstances as the economic impact of Covid-19 hits. The country was already facing a declining growth rate, but now faces its largest economic decline in history. The Central Bank of Honduras approved $200 million in multilateral bank loans to support healthcare efforts and the food supply chain, in an attempt to stimulate the economy. But, according to citizens, ‘the money never reached the population. People stayed in their homes practically dying of hunger.’ Former Economy Minister Hugo Neo Pino has stated that it will be three years before the Honduras economy recovers. Thus, it’s no surprise that Hondurans want to leave their home country and risk their health for a chance at crossing the US border.

However, it’s still rather unlikely that the Honduran Caravan will reach the U.S. border intact. It has faced major opposition in Guatemala, where Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei declared a ‘state of prevention’ in several territories, claiming that the caravan presents an imminent threat to public health. He has ordered military forces to detain anyone who does not follow Guatemalan protocols. If the caravan makes it past Guatemalan authorities, Mexican authorities have begun amassing forces on the border. Mexico, and Central America in general, has faced pressure from the Trump Administration to tighten security protocols and curb migration across its borders.

One of President Donald Trump’s key platforms has been his hardline immigration policies. In 2018, a migrant caravan became the focus of the U.S. midterm elections. The caravan served its purpose as a ‘powerful image[s] that appeared[ed] to validate conservative fears of “invasion” by “lawless” foreigners and the countries that “send” them.’ President Trump’s campaign has built a lot of momentum from xenophobia, the fear of foreigners. The fear of immigrants stems from the misunderstanding that migrants take U.S. jobs and are a burden to the U.S. economy. The truth? Immigration has been largely positive for the long-run economic well-being of the U.S. Despite its central-stage place in the 2018 election, in the 2020 general election, immigration has been largely absent from the conversation so far. It wasn’t mentioned at all during the debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in September.

Despite the lack of attention that immigration has had in the media and in U.S. politics in 2020, the environment in the U.S. remains hostile to illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been authorised to detain illegal aliens in detention centres where families are separated and human rights are optional. Outside of detention centres, immigrants face xenophobia, and are often the target of hate crimes. Of course, for some migrants these conditions can be an improvement to their living situations, but the United States is certainly not the utopian ‘land of opportunity’ that it is often thought to be.

Ultimately, the Honduran people face an impossible choice. The dire economy at home makes the U.S. seem like a place of opportunity, but the journey to the U.S. is fraught with peril, from authorities tasked to break up the caravan to the health threat of traveling and crossing borders during an international pandemic. If the caravan succeeds in crossing the border, the migrants face a country whose leaders have prided themselves on creating a dangerous environment for migrants fraught with detention centres, deportation and seemingly ‘endorsed’ xenophobia. Despite the impossible situation faced by Hondurans, they hold out hope that a future in the United States is better than a present in Honduras.