HS: COVID-19 Is Increasing the Possibility of a Maritime Mass Migration Event to U.S.

DHS: COVID-19 Is Increasing the Possibility of a Maritime Mass Migration Event to U.S. - Homeland Security Today Instability, crashing economies and hunger could drive a mass migration by sea from countries such as Haiti and Cuba, according to the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Threat Assessment. Homeland Security Today

Instability, crashing economies and hunger could drive a mass migration by sea from countries such as Haiti and Cuba, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Threat Assessment.

That could end up straining the resources of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the report warned, as DHS agencies try to interdict migration flows and process migrants.

The 26-page Homeland Threat Assessment released last week is structured by the categories of cyber threats, naming Russia and China as the foreign actors posing the greatest risk; foreign influence activity, including disinformation campaigns targeting the election and COVID-19; threats to economic security, including destabilization from the pandemic and intellectual property theft; terrorist threats, including international groups, domestic movements, and lone actors; transnational criminal organizations, including drug cartels and human smuggling; illegal immigration as “flows within the Western Hemisphere have begun to increase after a short-term decline in response to the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic and countries instituting border transit restrictions”; and natural disasters that “require the Department to readjust its priority focus, as resources continue to be reallocated to focus on responding to multiple natural disasters, while continuing to handle its traditional roles and responsibilities.”

COVID-19 “very likely” will have an impact on maritime migration “from both migrant origin and transit countries in the Caribbean” through next year, the assessment predicts.

“Weak socio-economic conditions in Cuba, political instability and food insecurity in Haiti, and the uncertainty of COVID-19 impacts in the region will increase the chances of a maritime mass migration event, although the overall risk remains low,” the report says. ...