New CNAS Report: "Beyond the L.A. Declaration on Migration and Development"

Washington, August 31, 2022—Today, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a new report, Beyond the L.A. Declaration on Migration and Development: Developing Permanent U.S. and Hemispheric Protocols for the Western Hemisphere's Migration Challenge, from author Cristobal Ramón.

This report discusses how large-scale events involving the movement of irregular migrants have gradually impacted more countries across the western hemisphere.

The author analyzes the history of U.S. and Latin American efforts to develop a coordinated hemispheric migration strategy, along with recent efforts by the Biden administration to make a comprehensive migration strategy a reality. The author draws focus to the L.A. Declaration on Migration and Protection, which debuted at the ninth Summit of the Americas in June 2022, and through which 21 countries have voluntarily committed to implementing measures that fall under policies for managing irregular immigration.

The report also includes specific policy recommendations to address the weaknesses in existing policy:

• First, L.A. Declaration signatories should establish “The Los Angeles Process” (L.A. Process)—a permanent set of annual or biannual ministerial meetings that allow for changing existing commitments to this document and the document’s policies based on changes in migration trends to prepare for future migration.
  
• Second, the United States should establish a permanent and independent Hemispheric Migration Engagement Task Force that pulls in technical experts from executive agencies, such as the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to formally plan, implement, and assess the country’s work with other countries in the hemisphere to manage migration.

This is the last of a two-year policy brief series that has been a component of a broader CNAS project on enhancing oversight and accountability in the Department of Homeland Security. Previous policy briefs and essays in this series include The Department of Homeland Security: Priorities for Reform, Reassessing Homeland Security Intelligence, From Mardi Gras to the Philippines: A Review of DHS Homeland Security Investigations,​​ Opportunity to Reform the Department of Homeland Security's Biodefense Operations and Governance, and The Coast Guard: "Always Ready," Except for Change. This project is made possible by the generous support of Democracy Fund.

Read the full report here.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the report author, please contact Cameron Edinburgh at [email protected]