Authors: Christian Baca, Ariana Ramos Mercado
Welcome to LAWG’s Migration News Brief, a compilation of recent top articles and reports related to issues of U.S. immigration and enforcement policy and migration from Central America and Mexico.
US Enforcement
The Futility of “Shutting Down Asylum” by Executive Action at the U.S.-Mexico Border
Adam Isacson, WOLA, June 4, 2024
“Today the Biden administration published a proclamation and an interim final rule curtailing the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. A White House fact sheet states that it ‘will make it easier for immigration officers to remove those without a lawful basis to remain and reduce the burden on our Border Patrol agents.’”
The Human Consequences of Biden’s Forthcoming Attempt to “Shut Down” the Border
International Refugee Assistance Project, June 3, 2024
“This [Executive Order] would make it legal to summarily expel asylum seekers. It would likely increase
repeated attempts to enter the United States, create dangerous and deadly camp conditions on the Mexican side of the border, result in refouling people to danger, empower smugglers and organized crime, and deny people with viable asylum claims the ability to seek safety. It would breach U.S. obligations under international law to afford the opportunity to seek asylum to those who meet a basic threshold.”
Luisiana sigue los pasos de Texas y aprueba su propia ley antinmigrante
Nicholas Dale Leal, El País, 30 de mayo de 2024
“El Congreso del Estado sureño avanza un proyecto de ley que convertiría en delito la inmigración irregular y permitiría detener y encarcelar a personas sospechosas de estar indocumentadas”.
America Turned Against Migrant Detention Before. We Can Do It Again
Ana Raquel Minian, TIME, May 30, 2024
“In reality, however, in the United States, people are being subjected to such violent and unconstitutional treatment on a daily basis. This is the world of immigrant detention.”
Asylum Processing at the U.S.-Mexico Border: May 2024
Stephanie Leutert and Caitlyn Yates, Straus Center, May 30, 2024
“This May 2024 report provides an asylum processing update along the U.S.-Mexico border and focuses on the CBP One appointment system, the processes for managing walk ups, and conditions for waiting asylum seekers. Overall, asylum seekers continue to face unstable living conditions and security risks in Mexican border cities.”
San Diego Congress members seek more answers about Border Patrol units that operated without oversight
Alex Riggins, The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 29, 2024
“A trio of San Diego Congress members led by Rep. Juan Vargas are calling on two federal agencies to provide more answers about how seven Border Patrol sectors along the U.S.-Mexico boundary were allowed to operate ‘homegrown’ critical incident teams for decades without oversight.”
ICE Air Flights May 2024 and Last 12 Months
Thomas H. Cartwright, Witness at the Border, June 2, 2024
“Total ICE air flights tracked, documented and recorded since Jan 2020 eclipses 30,000. May ICE air flights – 739; removal flights – 151. The 3rd highest month for removal flights since recording started in January 2020, behind September 2021 at 193 (Del Rio) and August 2023 at 153.”
Mexican Enforcement
How federal agents protect candidates amid Mexico’s elections
Lexie Harrison-Cripps, Al Jazeera, June 1, 2024
“Mexico is currently in the throes of one of its most dangerous election seasons in recent history…In the year leading up to the vote, the Mexican civil society organisation Causa en Comun recorded the murders of at least 59 political figures…Experts believe drug cartels and criminal networks are most often behind the violence, in an effort to influence the outcome of key local races.”
Migrantes denuncian acoso de Guardia Nacional de EU: Les disparan mientras duermen
El Financiero, 30 de mayo de 2024
“Personas migrantes han contando sus experiencias en el río Bravo, zona donde guardias de EU les disparan balas de goma para alejarlos”.
ONG pide ayuda a México por 170 asesinatos de migrantes a manos de Patrulla Fronteriza de EE UU
El Nacional, 28 de mayo de 2024
“La organización comenzó con su registro en 2010 y ha documentado muertes a manos de la Patrulla Fronteriza estadounidense y un aumento del uso de la fuerza”.
Balance social del sexenio: más de cinco millones de mexicanos salieron de la pobreza, subsisten carencias en salud y educación
Karina Suárez, El País, 27 de mayo de 2024
“México registro entre 2018 y 2022 el mayor logro en más de dos décadas en la lucha contra la pobreza. Aumentaron los ingresos pero empeoró la calidad de servicios públicos básicos…Aunque en cifras absolutas este Gobierno puede presumir la disminución más importante de la pobreza en los últimos 22 años, al interior aún persisten asignaturas pendientes por resolver”.
The Generals’ Labyrinth: Crime and the Military in Mexico
National Crisis Group, May 24, 2024
“Outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has deployed troops on a scale never seen before to fight crime across the country, but this measure has barely loosened the grip of illegal outfits. In some ways, the government can call its policy a success.”
Root Causes
Mexico
Woman mayor killed in Mexico just hours after election of first female president
Omar Fajardo, Mitchell McCluskey and Kathleen Magramo, CNN, June 5, 2024
“The woman mayor of a town in western Mexico was shot dead Monday, authorities said, just hours after the country elected its first female president in a race marred by deadly attacks on candidates.”
Claudia Sheinbaum Makes History as First Woman Elected to Lead Mexico
Natalie Kitroeff, Simon Romero and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, The New York Times, June 2, 2024
“Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won her nation’s elections on Sunday in a landslide victory that brought a double milestone: She became the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico.”
Mexican officials again criticize volunteer searcher after she finds more bodies
AP News, June 1, 2024
“A Mexican volunteer searcher criticized in the past by the government has found more human remains in Mexico City and officials have attacked her for it — again.”
Mexican journalist Alberto Amaro Jordán receives death threats in Tlaxcala
Committee to Protect Journalist, May 23, 2024
“Mexican reporter Alberto Amaro Jordán received death threats against him, his family, and his bodyguards on May 20, 2024. He has been enrolled in a federal protection program for journalists after eceiving numerous threats in recent years.”
Guatemala
Fiscalía logra condena por peculado en forma continuada y abuso de autoridad
Ministerio Público, 6 de junio de 2024
“Con base en los medios probatorios presentados por la Fiscalía contra el Lavado de Dinero u Otros Activos, el Tribunal Primero de Sentencia Penal de Quetzaltenango dictó sentencia condenatoria a Fernando Ramiro Arreaga Mazariegos, exalcalde de Sibilia, por los delitos de peculado en forma continuada y abuso de autoridad”.
La Fiscalía contra la corrupción conocerá denuncia contra directivos del Cang
Douglas Cuevas, Prensa Libre, 3 de junio de 2024
“La Fiscalía Contra la Corrupción citó para este martes 4 de junio, al abogado Wilson López, para que ratifique la denuncia contra autoridades del Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala (Cang). Los denunciados son Mario Siekavizza y Sergio Madrazo, presidente y director del Cang”.
Inmigrantes serán beneficiados con acuerdo de Estados Unidos y otros países en Guatemala (podcast)
Jesús García, El Diaro, May 29, 2024
“En junio del 2022, Estados Unidos logró que más de 20 países de América Latina y El Caribe firmaran la Declaración de Los Ángeles en la Cumbre de las Américas, enfocada en asuntos migratorios, a fin de a abordar la inmigración irregular”.
Launch of the “Youth with Purpose” Initiative
U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, May 29, 2024
As a sign of the strong relationship between Guatemala and the United States of America, the governments of both countries are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘Youth with Purpose’ initiative, funded through USAID and with ‘Glasswing International’ as the implementing partner…This initiative aims to support young people in vulnerable situations, providing them with training opportunities, access to employment and community service activities, to improve their living conditions and address the root causes of migration.”
Guatemala: Amnistía Internacional denuncia sesgo de género en la criminalización sistemática de personas operadores de justicia y defensoras de derechos humanos
Amnistía Internacional, 23 de mayo de 2024
“El patrón de hostigamiento continuo por medio del abuso del sistema penal llevado a cabo por parte de las autoridades del Ministerio Público (MP) y del Organismo Judicial (OJ) para reprimir y desmantelar la lucha contra la corrupción y la impunidad, incorpora varias formas de discriminación y violencia de género que exponen a las mujeres criminalizadas a un doble castigo, dijo Amnistía Internacional hoy al publicar su nuevo informe, ‘Todo el sistema en contra’, criminalización de mujeres operadoras de justicia y defensoras de derechos humanos en Guatemala”.
El Salvador
Gobierno sin informar sobre juramentación de gabinete
Denni Portillo, La Prensa Grafica, 3 de junio de 2024
“Pese a haber ocurrido el pasado sábado 1 de junio, hasta ayer el gobierno no había informado si se realizó o no el acto de juramentación de los miembros del gabinete, y los nombres de los mismos, que acompañarán a Bukele en su segundo quinquenio en el poder, pese a la prohibición constitucional a la reelección”.
Filtración confirma gravedad de salud del ex asesor gubernamental Alejandro Muyshondt durante su detención
David Bernal, La Prensa Grafica, 3 de junio de 2024
“Un informe médico enviado al juzgado deja constancia que Alejandro Muyshondt tenía parálisis tras un accidente cerebrovascular, lo que dificultaba su privación de libertad. Especialista sostiene que debía estar hospitalizado, pero fue llevado a bartolinas”.
Nayib Bukele Sworn In to 2nd Presidential Term in El Salvador as Protesters Decry U.S. Support
Democracy Now!, June 3, 2024
“In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele was sworn in for a second term Saturday. El Salvador’s constitution limits presidents to serving just one five-year term, but a 2021 Supreme Court decision allowed the former businessman to run for reelection. Under Bukele’s plan to combat gangs, El Salvador has arrested over 80,000 people without charge. Despite growing condemnation of Bukele’s authoritarian rule, the U.S. sent a high-level delegation led by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the inauguration.”
US dampens criticism of El Salvador’s president as migration overtakes democracy concerns
Joshua Goodman and Marcos Aleman, AP News, June 1, 2024
“A high-level delegation led by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and senior White House and State Department officials, attended Bukele’s inauguration in San Salvador on Saturday to a second term…The visit — unthinkable until recently — caps a quiet, 180-degree shift in Washington’s policy toward the small Central American nation of 6 million that reflects how the Biden administration’s criticisms of Bukele’s strong-armed governing style have been overtaken by more urgent concerns tied to immigration.”
Ha nacido una dictadura
El Faro, 1 de junio de 2024
“El ahora presidente de facto y su clan familiar se entronizan por encima de nuestras leyes sin que haya, de hecho, ninguna institución capaz de imponer límites a su atropello constitucional. El régimen autoritario se ha convertido en dictadura”.
Bukele y Noboa mantienen “un diálogo fraterno” enfocado en seguridad y migración irregular
SWI, 1 de junio de 2024
“Los presidentes de Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, y de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, mantuvieron este viernes “un diálogo fraterno” enfocado en políticas de seguridad y sobre prevención de la migración irregular, en la víspera de la investidura del gobernante salvadoreño para un segundo mandato de cinco años (2024-2029)”.
In El Salvador, Fear and Silence Shroud the Dead
Efren Lemus, El Faro, May 29, 2024
“The man speaking was Daniel, in his 60s, with neat, gray hair. Daniel is the uncle of Francisco, a 30-year-old former private-sector employee and the father of a little girl. Francisco was arrested in January 2023, in the tenth month of the state of exception, with a group of other young people a few blocks from his home in a town in central El Salvador, alongside a busy logjam of motorcycles, buses, cars, and street vendors selling clothes, shoes, vegetables, and trinkets. Over a year later, he returned home in a coffin.”
EE.UU. dona drones a El Salvador para vigilar fronteras y contrabando
El Universal, 21 de mayo de 2024
“EE.UU. donó drones a El Salvador valorados en $4.5 millones para reforzar la vigilancia fronteriza y combatir el contrabando y la migración irregular”.
Honduras
Congresswoman Bush, Colleagues Reintroduce Resolution to Affirm Rights of Honduras’ Garífuna People
U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), June 5, 2024
“For years, Garífuna community members and leaders have been threatened, arrested, abducted and murdered…The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have determined that the Garífuna community’s rights have repeatedly been violated by the Honduran government, yet little has changed regarding their treatment. This resolution condemns the violence toward the Garífuna people while calling for accountability from the Honduran government and other international institutions for their role in these abuses.”
Honduras declares health emergency as Central America starts peak dengue season
Michael Rios, CNN, June 1, 2024
“Honduras has declared a national health emergency after reporting a rise in hospitalizations and deaths from dengue, the health ministry announced on Friday.”
Honduras: Plan de Respuesta Humanitaria (HRP) 2024
Oficina de Naciones Unidas para la Coordinación de Asuntos Humanitarios, 30 de mayo de 2024
“Este tablero presenta información clave sobre el progreso en el financiamiento y seguimiento de proyectos y actividades del Plan de Repuesta Humanitaria”.
Honduras mejorará la inserción laboral de trabajadores con apoyo del BID
Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, 30 de Mayo de 2024
“El Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) aprobó US$25 millones para mejorar las oportunidades de inserción laboral en el sector formal de las personas que buscan empleo en el país. Para ello, la operación busca fortalecer las habilidades para la empleabilidad de quienes buscan trabajo y mejorar la cobertura y calidad de la oferta del servicio público de empleo, así como los servicios de reinserción para población retornada.”
Central America Drug Flights Fall as Traffickers Shift Methods
Sam Woolston and Alex Papadovassilakis, InSight Crime, May 29, 2024
“Aerial cocaine interdictions have fallen sharply in Central America in the last three years, suggesting that drug traffickers are shifting their modus operandi, potentially in response to increased attention on aerial routes.”
‘They’ve hidden the past from us’: New bill in Honduras seeks to rectify 1980s human rights violations
Michael Fox, The World, May 29, 2024
“In Honduras, family members of the victims of state violence in the 1980s have been marching for 40 years to demand justice for the disappearance and death of their loved ones. Now, there’s a chance they may see reparations. An unprecedented bill that would provide compensation for the family members of the victims is working its way through Congress.”
Regional
Fundaredes: Las venezolanas corren un alto riesgo ante redes de prostitución en la frontera
El Nacional, 4 de junio de 2024
“Las mujeres venezolanas que cruzan la frontera con Colombia corren un «alto riesgo» de ser capturadas y sometidas por grupos criminales vinculados con redes de prostitución forzada y trata de personas en general, alertó este lunes la ONG Fundaredes. La organización explicó que las víctimas utilizan el paso fronterizo para emigrar, por lo que las bandas criminales operan en esta zona con el objetivo de engañarlas y forzarlas a la prostitución”.
Panama Completes First Climate-Related Relocation
Erica Bower, Human Rights Watch, May 29, 2024
“Today, the Guna Indigenous people living on the tiny, overcrowded, and flood-prone island of Gardi Sugdub in Panama will finally be given keys to their long-awaited new homes on the mainland. Community members have anticipated this day since 2010, when they first sought government support to move…The opening of the mainland site, called Isber Yala, is a celebratory moment. The Panamanian government is doing more than most governments around the world in supporting a community-led planned relocation in anticipation of long-term climate change impacts like sea level rise.”
Climate crisis threatens 41 million across Caribbean and Latin America: UN
Al Jazeera, 28 May 2024
“The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report on Tuesday found that 41 million people – about 6 percent of the population across the region – are exposed to threatening storms and flooding…Nearly 1,450 hospitals vital to maternal health and family planning across the region also are located in low-elevation coastal areas that are more prone to natural hazards, the UNFPA said…Small island states across the Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean, with negligible emissions, are particularly vulnerable to economic crises and rising temperatures due to their exposure to natural disasters, high debt and reliance on imports and tourism.”
Brazil’s top court acts to protect journalists from judicial harassment
Committee to Protect Journalist, May 24, 2024
“A decision by Brazil’s top court to recognize the judicial harassment of journalists and to introduce procedures to help prevent courts being misused to intimidate and silence the media is a welcome move towards safeguarding press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.”
Wall Street Banks Fund the Destruction of Our Indigenous Land
Olivia Bisa Tirko, Senar Irar, and Neil Encinas, Amazon Watch, May 20, 2024
“Last month, a delegation traveled thousands of miles to tell the leadership of Wall Street’s biggest banks to stop lending money to Petroperú, the state-owned oil company. The company’s relentless pursuit of oil and gas is threatening the lives and livelihoods of local communities and destroying the world’s third largest forest carbon sink. These actions are endangering the Amazon rainforest, and edging it closer to an irreversible tipping point.”
Gender and LGBTQ+
Especialista en investigación de violencia de género intercambia experiencias con fiscales que atienden a víctimas vulnerables
Ministerio Público de la República de Honduras, 3 de junio de 2024
“En el marco de las acciones colaborativas entre la Embajada de los Estados Unidos de América (EE.UU) y el Ministerio Público (MP) de Honduras, el Fiscal General de la República, Johel Zelaya, abrió las puertas de la institución para un intercambio de experiencias en materia de violencia basada en género”.
The first woman elected to lead Mexico faces pressing gender-related issues
Sara España, AP News, June 3, 2024
“Among the issues that Mexican women face are femicide, or women killed because of their gender, a gender employment gap and inadequate policies guaranteeing sexual and reproductive rights…[President-elect] Sheinbaum, 61, will need to address these after she takes office on Oct. 1.”
Gay pride revelers in Sao Paulo reclaim Brazil’s national symbols
AP News, June 2, 2024
“Although Brazil has pioneered LGBTQ+ rights in Latin America — transphobia was made a crime in 2019 — the country still has the largest number of trans and queer people murdered in the world…In 2023, Brazil was responsible for 31% of all 321 murders of trans and gender diverse people reported murdered worldwide, according to Transgender Europe, which collects data globally. It was the 16th straight year Brazil led the list.”
Actions, alerts, resources
Hacerse persona voluntaria sobre el terreno
El Proyecto Guatemala de Brigadas Internacionales de Paz, mayo de 2024
“El Proyecto Guatemala de Brigadas Internacionales de Paz (PBI, por sus siglas en inglés) está buscando personas que quieran ser voluntarias para trabajar en el equipo en terreno”
LOST IN THE CROSSFIRE: Identifying Data on U.S. Firearms and Crime in the Western Hemisphere
Jessica Bakas, Julia Craig, Julien Hector, Emily Kuzel, Chloe Moss, Emma Olson, and Jack Tapay-Cueva, American University’s School of International Service, May 2024
“The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State asked a team of seniors from American University’s School of International Service to research quantitative and qualitative linkages between firearms flows to key Western Hemisphere countries and crime occurrence in those countries. The countries identified for attention were divided into two groups: Tier 1 (Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago) and Tier 2 (Brazil, Ecuador, and The Bahamas).”
Operation Lone Star: Misinformation and Discrimination in Texas Border Enforcement
American Civil Liberties Union-Texas, May 22, 2024
“Since [2021], Texas has spent more than $11.2 billion on [Operation Lone Star]. OLS claims to stop migrants from allegedly bringing drugs and crime into Texas — even though the state’s own data proves that’s not the case…Texas should end the Operation Lone Star program and repurpose the billions of taxpayer dollars consistently allocated in the state budget to other challenges. Funds used for OLS could improve our communities by addressing the most pressing needs at the border, such as expediting crossing at ports of entry for goods being shipped into the U.S., improving water management and retention infrastructure, or improving public hospitals and schools.”
- *The Migration News Brief is a selection of relevant news articles, all of which do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Latin America Working Group.
- P.S. Do you know of someone who might be interested in receiving the Migration News Brief? Tell them to email tdelmoral@lawg.org.