The Plight of Venezuelan migrants: A New Understanding of Citizenship (Essay Sample)

Mass Migration in Venezuela and the Repositioning of Citizenship The Plight of Venezuelan migrants: A New Understanding of Citizenship We are all citizens of a certain nation and perhaps if we are asked why and how do we become citizens, more or less we have a legal understanding or explanation. At a glance, it seems easy because people are very much aware of their citizenship because a bunch of opportunities, rights, and benefits come after because of one’s status as a “citizen.” However, times have changed, and the world is confronted with so much social, political, and economic turmoil that even the definition of citizenship and its institutional form is deeply challenged. Most importantly, the phenomenon of migration, where a large group of people is moving from one geographical area to another is continuously growing. In the case of Venezuela, the mass migration of the people from Venezuela to other countries or areas has made this condition as one of the worst migration crises in Latin America's history. The United Nations has said it could reach a "crisis point' comparable to what was seen in the Mediterranean in 2015 (BBC, 2018). Since 2015, more than 3 million Venezuelans or migrants have already fled from their country. The migration of these migrants has had an unprecedented impact on other parts of Latin America (CGTN America, 2019). The Exodus is said to be driven by violence, hyperinflation, and food and medicine shortage amounts to about 1 in 12 of the country’s population. It also includes economic collapse which led to unemployment, food insecurity, and lack of social services. The unstoppable political violence and persecution of the Maduro government was also a crucial political factor that contributed to this migration crisis. This political crisis made people from Venezuela no longer hopeful but hesitant to return to their home countries. Saskia Sassen (2002) states that growing tensions are also due to the failure of the countries to achieve “equal” citizenship. This equal citizenship should not only refer to just a formal status but most importantly an enabling condition. In this case, the Venezuelans’ citizenship status seems like just a legal paper indicating their membership but is no longer felt significantly by the people. Not only that but they despise their government leaders specifically when Maduro dismissed UN migration figures as “fake news” as a justification to intervene in Venezuela’s affairs (The Guardian, 2018). Even the regional responses were criticized as haphazard. In a positive note, some welcoming countries have opened to cater to Venezuelan migrants and refugees. South Americans have welcomed more than two million Venezuelans without taking any of these restrictive measures," says Benjamin Gedan of the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC. Brazil is stepping up efforts to relocate Venezuelans from the isolated north of the country to bigger cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo so they can find work and settle more easily (BBC, 2018). Colombia has received over 500,000 Venezuelans; Ecuador  230,000 in 2017 and 180,000 in the first three months of 2018; and Peru 150,000 during 2017. Caribbean nations have received 150,000 Venezuelans, including 40,000 by Trinidad and Tobago. An additional 40,000 have arrived in Brazil since 2016.  Venezuelans have reached as far as Chile to the south, Spain to the east, and Canada to the north. The United States received 27,569 asylum applications from Venezuelans in 2017, up 88 percent from the previous year. (Ink, 2018). There have been efforts done although with restrictions, to accommodate the non-citizens or aliens which in this case are the Venezuelan migrants. Brazil has developed the most comprehensive response, passing a law that gives certain Venezuelans a two-year residence permit and devoting nine shelters to their care. Brazil also has established a refugee resettlement program for Venezuelans. States and nations outside the region are also beginning to feel and acknowledge the magnitude of this migration crisis and increased their support although the overall response is still lacking. Some Venezuelan migrants are already starting to live in some countries within the South America region. Take for example the case of Colombia and why it has open arms to Venezuelan migrants even up to this day. Colombia, although it still has some shortcomings in addressing the crisis, still adapted and absorbed many of the migrants. One of the main reasons for this is that Colombia has also been an ‘immigrating country’ where Colombia migrants have also fled to different countries including Venezuela. For that reason, Colombia welcomed migrants because they suffered from violence and displacement years ago. All that is mentioned above leads us to a new understanding of citizenship and national. In Sassen’s (2002) study, she introduces the idea of repositioning citizenship because there is a need to look at its different dimensions. Because legal citizenship does not always bring full and equal membership rights, there could be now a site for informal citizenship. Saskia Sassen offers two types of citizenship towards effective nationality and informal citizenship. One is the unauthorized yet recognized citizen, and two is the authorized yet unrecognized citizen. The undocumented Venezuelan migrants are now being recognized in some countries where they fled to. For example in Colombia, its government has developed programs to support Venezuelan migrants, such as a border mobility card to allow migrants to move between the two countries and a special work permit known as the Permiso Especial de Permanencia (PEP), which has allowed hundreds of thousands to legally stay and work in Colombia for two years. Colombia’s response has been dramatically different than that of other neighb...