How Trump’s US aid freeze has stymied Colombia’s immigration system

Since eligibility for adults was restricted in 2023, children like Samantha are currently the only people who are eligible for Colombia’s temporary protection permit (PPT).

In order to encourage Venezuelans to apply for legal immigration status, Colombia established the PPT program in 2021.

The permits are valid until 2031 and give Venezuelans access to Colombia’s educational system, employment, and other services, which were praised as a breakthrough in addressing the migration and refugee crisis.

The PPT’s benefits have been studied by Andrés Moya, a professor at the Universidad de Los Andes School of Economics.

He discovered that Venezuelans with regular immigration status had higher monthly incomes, improved health, and higher consumer spending. In contrast to migrants and refugees without legal documents, they cost the Colombian government less to support them.

Moya noted that children are a particularly good example of this.

He said, “If we invest in these kids, they’ll be better positioned to contribute to society, to work, to start their own businesses, and to increase consumption.”

If not, families will “either continue to migrate and worsen the situation, or they’re going to become a burden on the system,” according to Moya.

The “Visibles” project, which processes the special permits, has sputtered since USAID stopped providing foreign aid.

On February 28, some Visibles locations reopened with a skeleton staff. Employees have been forced to reapply for jobs using their own funds by the Colombian government.

Prior to the aid freeze, there were 171 employees working nationwide, according to a Colombian immigration agency spokesman. The government now wants to maintain 92.

Llano Medina claimed that only a programme coordinator was on the Medelln staff when the sites shut down throughout the nation last month to handle high-level complaints.

She attributed that coordinator’s informal connection to her as saving the life of an eight-month-old child. The coordinator set up an emergency PPT to give the Venezuelan infant hospital care when the infant had a high fever in late February.

She worried that if someone had a document, another child might not need the same assistance in a crisis.

Llano Medina estimated that she registered at least 1,500 children for their PPTs between 2021 and the funding freeze. She provided the three notebooks and two tablets to Al Jazeera, where she keeps their photos and notes for each child’s paperwork.

She now struggles to compile bus fare for her volunteer shift at the hospital.

“I make a heart-felt commitment,” I said. I like to contribute because, to be honest, not many people do it for free, she said.

Llano Medina cited Samantha as one of the fortunate. Within days, the five-year-old felt well enough to start school after eventually kicking off her fever.

However, Loaiza, her mother, worries about what might happen next if they experience a medical emergency. Once her local migration office can rehire staff, she intends to restart the PPT registration process for both Samantha and Clarion.

Source: Aljazeera