also a dramatic increase in the number of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Mexico with the aim of reaching the USA or Canada. Authorities in a number of countries, including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the USA, failed to respect and protect the rights of migrants and refugees, including by denying them their right to seek asylum. In the USA, following the termination of immigration policy Title 42, the state implemented new migration measures that continued to drastically limit access to asylum at the US-Mexico border. These included presuming ineligibility in the majority of cases and mandatory use of a mobile phone app that offered limited appointments. This resulted in many asylum seekers being stranded at the border in inhumane conditions and exposed to violence and other abuses. The US administration extended Temporary Protected Status for Haitian, Honduran, Nepalese, Nicaraguan, Somali, South Sudanese, Sudanese, Ukrainian, Venezuelan and Yemeni nationals, granting work authorization and protection from removal from the USA. A parole process was instituted for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, which provided travel authorization for up to 30,000 individuals from these countries to enter the USA each month with US-based sponsors. US authorities continued to employ arbitrary mass immigration detention, using private prisons to detain people seeking safety. In Canada, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick announced an end to their immigration detention arrangements with the Canada Border Services Agency, joining British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia in their commitment not to detain individuals solely on immigration grounds by July 2024. In Mexico, where detention conditions for migrants and asylum seekers were particularly dire, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in March declaring that the maximum period of detention in an immigration detention centre was 36 hours, after which authorities had the obligation to release migrants and asylum seekers. The deployment of the military to manage the rising numbers of migrants and refugees arriving at their territories expanded across the region. In Chile, in February, the government deployed military troops along its borders with Bolivia and Peru to prevent the irregular entry of people seeking safety, mostly affecting Venezuelans. Venezuelans in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru faced significant barriers to access an asylum procedure and other temporary or complementary protection programmes. As a result, many could not regularize their status and access essential services, including health services. Authorities continued to fail to protect Venezuelan women facing gender-based violence, who were at particular risk. Many did not report the violence out of fear, mistrust or misinformation, and could not access services due to lack of regular status. In the Dominican Republic, discrimination against Haitians or people of Haitian descent and anti-Black racism persisted and put migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, women and girls and LGBTI people at particular risk. Immigration authorities and law enforcement officials raided hospitals to conduct discriminatory searches for Haitian women and girls to arbitrarily arrest and deport them. Authorities must urgently cease unlawful deportations, respect the principle of nonrefoulement and refrain from detaining refugees and migrants. States must also ensure everyone can apply for asylum and access a fair and effective asylum procedure, especially those fleeing mass human rights violations, and they must provide refugees the protection they are entitled to. They must combat racism and xenophobia against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. 38 The State of the World’s Human Rights