More than 70 Nicaraguan refugees who were originally heading to the United States through the ‘Safe Mobility’ program promoted by Joe Biden’s government have found themselves starting a new life in Spain. The refugees, who were living in Costa Rica after fleeing Nicaragua, landed on Spanish soil on December 12 as part of an agreement between Spain, the United States, and Costa Rica to host refugees.
In Spain, the government of Pedro Sánchez and international humanitarian agencies such as UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have offered a one-year work contract to at least one member of each of the families that have arrived.
With the support of the Spanish government and the Valladolid Provincial Council, the Accem organization is managing the program to resettle these refugees. One of the unique aspects of this program is that at least one member of each family has been offered a contract to work in the photovoltaic panel sector in rural Spain.
The refugees, who were relocated to one of the regions known as ’emptied Spain’ due to high emigration to large cities, are now part of a program demonstrating that individuals can live and establish themselves in a rural environment.
Despite only having been in Spain for a month, these refugees have already begun to integrate into the rural community. While only around 70 refugees have been officially recognized by the Spanish ministry in charge of migration, the United States Department of State states that 165 people have already completed the journey from the Safe Mobility office in Costa Rica to Spain.
The Safe Mobility program, which offers legal avenues to Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Colombian, and Guatemalan migrants to reach the United States, aims to provide a safer and legal way for asylum seekers to access the U.S. without risking their lives by arriving irregularly at the southern border.
Although the actual number of refugees able to resettle in the United States and Spain is limited, the establishment of a legal pathway and successful settlement of these 74 families in Spain may set a positive example for future resettlement initiatives.