Legal Responses to Forced Mass Migration – American Perspectives

Mass migration, including forced mass migration, in the Americas tends to conjure images of illegal immigration, most frequently from Latin America to the United States. The reality of forced mass migration in the Americas is, however, quite different, complex and multifaceted. Set against the backdrop of political turmoil and increased threats of environmental changes, forced mass migration in the Americas is highly nuanced and requires a flexible legal and organizational framework. This requirement has been consistently met through a series of international and regional treaties and norms as well as through the flexibility of regional organizations in responding to new or dramatically increasing forced mass migration patterns. This paper outlines these responses and trends through the lens of the mass migration from Venezuela. It asserts that how international and regional law, organizations, and States have responded to this crisis presents an example of the ways that legal responses to forced mass migrations have been implemented in the Americas.