LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS DEFY U.S. MIGRANT POLICY

Many Latin American leaders at the ninth meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) denounced US foreign policy that has forced many of their people to migrate to the United States, only to be turned away at the Mexico-US border or hounded and detained in the US. The country has deported at least 29 million people over the past 32 years, according to figures from the US Department of Homeland Security and news reports.

Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent & Grenadines, delivered a fiery condemnation, blasting the hypocrisy of the wealthiest country posing as the world’s victim while the US economy flounders, partly due to trade imbalances and exploitative systems it spent decades engineering. ‘It is a moral obscenity,’ Gonsalves said.

Honduras President Xiomara Castro, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Bolivian President Luis Arce and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also blasted US immigration policies that result in mass deportations as criminalising aspiration and survival.Many Global South people have fled intercommunal violence, poverty, instability and war that can be attributed to Washington's foreign policies.

The leaders' remarks touch on a broader movement worldwide, including in Africa, with governments reclaiming control of resources, resisting neocolonialism, and insisting on more balanced migration, trade, and diplomatic relations. As the momentum builds across the Global South, this may be another turning point in the centuries-long quest for justice and self-determination worldwide.

Video credit: @btnewsroom via IG

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI13rJmW_oE

https://www.intellinews.com/latin-american-leaders-blast-us-tariffs-at-celac-summit-as-china-offers-economic-lifeline-376130

https://www.albatcp.org/en/2025/04/09/countries-call-for-deeper-regional-unity-and-support-for-migrants-at-9th-celac-summit

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/11/celac-summit-trump-tariffs-un-secretary-general

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2024-11-19/trump-deported-fewer-people-than-obama-clinton-or-bush-but-more-indiscriminately.html

https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2019/table39