Nearly 100,000 Nicaraguans Emigrated in 2024
There are now some 1.5 million Nicaraguans living outside the country. The majority – some 800,000 – are in the United States
By Cindy Regidor (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – Some 95,000 Nicaraguans left for different countries in 2024. The majority – around 58,000 – left for the United States under the Biden Administration’s temporary immigration plan known as Humanitarian Parole.
“Six years after the 2018 sociopolitical crisis exploded, migration is one of the largest consequences of the [resulting] government repression,” explained Manuel Orozco, migration specialist, researcher and director of the Migration, Remittances and Development Program at Inter-American Dialogue. He added that the number of people leaving Nicaragua has tripled, and currently 7 out of 10 households has a family member outside the country.
In 2017, there were 658,203 Nicaraguan migrants, 280,000 of them in the United States. Now a total of 1,519,043 have migrated, with 839,620 living in the US. The data cited by the investigator – based on official sources and his own calculations – would indicate that around 850,000 Nicaraguans emigrated in the last six years.
Over 70,000 Nicaraguans arrived in the US in 2024
The US is the principal destination for Nicaraguan migrants. In 2024, some 72,000 Nicaraguans arrived in that country, including a large number who entered through the Humanitarian Parole program, according to US government data.
Humanitarian Parole was one of the predominant news topics of the year for three reasons, including the temporary suspension of the program during the month of August; the promise of then-candidate Donald Trump to eliminate the program if elected; and the current government’s announcement that they would not renew the allotted two-year time limit for those who came through that program.
Humanitarian Parole, in effect only for residents of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua or Venezuela, allows them to apply for permission to enter the US legally and work there for two years. In order to be accepted to the program, they must have a US sponsor who pledges to back them.
Now, Donald Trump will shortly assume power for a new four-year term as President of the United States. He’s expected to definitively cancel the Humanitarian Parole program, as he pledged to, so that it will no longer be an option for those who wish to emigrate legally to the US. In addition, immigration experts have warned those currently in the country under this mechanism as they must apply for some other immigration status before their current permission expires, if they wish to stay.
“The elimination of the parole program will affect the same countries most impacted by dictatorships, without creating any means of relief for such people. It’s not known what alternatives the entering administration is planning for these four countries, especially the three under dictatorships [Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua],” Orozco noted.
Will Trump carry out his anti-immigrant threats?
The new Trump mandate, which begins on January 20, 2025, also brings the threat of massive deportations of migrants – one of Trump’s principal campaign promises – including Nicaraguans.
The migrants who will be left most vulnerable to an aggressive plan to deport foreigners from the US would be: those who already have an active deportation order; those whose application for political asylum has been denied, and are without another option to apply for; migrants in the US under the TPS [Temporary Protective Status] program; and those currently protected by DACA [Deferred Deportation for Childhood Arrivals] if the latter program isn’t renewed. Also, those who are in the US under the Humanitarian Parole program.
Orozco added another factor affecting the risk of expulsion: those under greater probability of being deported would be those who arrived in the last 5 years. They’re the ones most easily identified and targeted by the authorities, since some information on them is available in the government databases. “These people have principally come from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti,” he emphasized.
The investigator assured that there are currently 80,000 Nicaraguans with deportation orders. He projects that some 10% of them – around 8,000 – could be deported in the first great push of the Trump Administration to fulfill their electoral promise during the initial months of 2025.
Costa Rica received over 21,000 asylum applications in 2024
Costa Rica continues to be the second most popular destination for Nicaraguan migrants, although the number of asylum applications fell from over 28,000 in 2023, to 21,710 between January and November of 2024, according to data from Costa Rica’s General Directorate of Immigration and Foreign Affairs.
One important change in the conditions for current Costa Rican migrants, and those who intend to migrate there, was passed in June 2024, when the authorities reestablished a series of rights for asylum seekers. The arrival deadline for filing a refugee petition was eliminated, and the possibility of receiving a work permit while the asylum claim is pending was reestablished.
September, October, and November brought considerable increases in asylum requests from Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, a fact that could mark the beginning of a new rise in emigration to Nicaragua’s southern neighbor.
The growth of family remittances from Costa Rica to Nicaragua coincided with the increase in asylum applications, Orozco pointed out. “Applications increased from 1,000 to 3,000, and the average value [of remittances] sent grew from US $26 million dollars to $30 million dollars monthly,” he noted.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.