Our 2017 Review: Five Major Issues to Remember

Awareness-raising
Alan Kurdi was a three-year-old Kurdish child who was found drowned on a beach in Turkey. The photos showing his body on the Turkish coast and a Turkish police officer carrying him traveled around the world, revealing the Syrian humanitarian crisis. This image reached more than 20 million viewers' screens. Immediately, tweets using the word refugee multiplied across the world. Although several countries announced steps to provide greater support to refugees, there remains debate over how and to what extent the image moved public discussion in Europe on refugees. There is no doubt that it became a milestone as a symbol of the European Union's closed border and of the risks that desperate people may take to cross it. It also raises questions about the responsibility of social networks as platforms for content with which not all readers or viewers may agree or feel comfortable. However, awareness among key actors remains essential in any effort to protect the rights of migrants wherever their odyssey unfolds.

Border closures
Since September 2, 2015, more than two years after the death of the emblematic child, at least 8,500 refugees and migrants have died or disappeared trying to cross the Mediterranean alone. The vast majority of children who attempt to reach Europe travel alone, making the journey even more frightening and dangerous. Something similar occurs in the Americas, where children from the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, namely Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, seek to travel alone to the United States. Violence is one determining factor, since homicide rates in those countries are among the highest in the world. Many flee to avoid recruitment by gangs. Since 2011, the southern U.S. border has seen a spike in arrivals of unaccompanied children, many of them seeking asylum. According to a UN study, more than half may have had credible claims to seek asylum (UNHCR 2014).

Youth in limbo
2017 was a hard year for many young people in the United States. They believed that, under protections such as those for the so-called DREAMers, they would not be exposed to deportation. The first Dominican-American member of the U.S. House of Representatives reaffirmed his support for the higher education of 800,000 young people who had come to study in the United States. They could be deported after the Trump administration dismantled the DACA program that had allowed them to stay. Adriano Espaillat stated: "I was born in the Dominican Republic, a country of which I am proud, and I came to this great nation, to which I will be eternally grateful, as one of those thousands of young Dreamers who seek opportunities for development in our universities and colleges in the United States." December 2017. On the island, many young Dominicans of Haitian descent went through a fourth year of uncertainty following ruling 168-13 and the subsequent legislation, Law 169-14, since their denationalization limits their access to higher education and violates the fundamental rights linked to having a nationality. In their case, they are described as "noncitizen insiders" (Kristy Belton) or "unrecognized citizens" (Matthew Gibney).

Integration
In the region, some states stand out for good migration practices. Chile looked that way under President Bachelet's second administration, proving to be a welcoming country for emigrants from the island, both Haitians and Dominicans. Its cultural sensitivity toward this new Haitian immigration is notable, since, for example, the guidelines for obtaining residence in that country appear in Haitian Creole on the website of the government entity that grants residence permits.
In November, a Haitian man with three years of residence in Chile became a hero when he placed his arms in the path of a woman who fell from a ninth floor in Santiago de Chile. The incident occurred in the northern area of the Chilean capital when the woman jumped from the building and Richard Joseph, a member of the Buena Onda Organization, caught her in his arms. He was received with honors at La Moneda Palace by then-President Bachelet. Let us hope that exemplary practices of integration and inclusion continue under her newly elected successor, Sebastian Pinera.

Expulsions
Expulsions seem to be the order of the day because of shortcomings in governing migration appropriately. The concern of the Dominican authorities about the possible increase in deportations from the United States was evidenced by the first forum on protection for returned migrants in vulnerable situations, organized by the OAS together with the National Migration Institute in mid-2017. In December, that institution returned to the issue when Marcos Morales, director of research, observed that while previously around 64% of deportees were for drug-related issues, that percentage had dropped to 54%, while those returned for migration-related cases had increased. He explained that around 66,000 Dominicans have been deported from the United States over 23 years. They face problems reintegrating because society itself rejects them, which is why inclusion and acceptance policies are being sought.