Authors: Tania Del Moral, Barbara Molina Valles, Ella Brubaker
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
Troubled by illegal border crossings, Arizona voters approve state-level immigration enforcement
Gabriel Sandoval, Associated Press, November 6, 2024
“Arizona voters have approved letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico, an authority that would encroach on the federal government’s power over immigration enforcement but would not take effect immediately, if ever.”
Inside Trump’s plan for mass deportations – and who wants to stop him
Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, Reuters, November 6, 2024
“Donald Trump is expected to mobilize agencies across the U.S. government to help him deport record numbers of immigrants, building on efforts in his first term to tap all available resources and pressure so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions to cooperate, according to six former Trump officials and allies.”
Trump’s Big Immigration Raid Snared Them. They’re Still in Mississippi
Isabelle Taft, The New York Times, November 4, 2024
“The raid was one of many carried out across Mississippi that day in August 2019, part of the largest workplace sweep in more than a decade and the biggest under President Donald J. Trump. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took 680 people into custody at poultry plants across central Mississippi.”
“Los latinos le apostarán a la ‘mano dura’ de Trump”: Cristhian Mancera
Maria Jose Noriega Ramirez, El Espectador, 31 de octubre de 2024
“Tras una visita a Colombia, el concejal del Distrito 11 del Condado de Miami Dade habla sobre los aspirantes a la Presidencia estadounidense, Kamala Harris y Donald Trump, y explica cómo la balanza se puede inclinar a favor de uno de ellos por uno de los temas más espinosos en la contienda: la migración”.
Trump is considering halting federal grants to police that decline to participate in mass deportations
Julia Ainsley, Garrett Haake and Laura Strickler, NBC News, October 30, 2024
“Sources close to the Trump campaign said the tactic would survive legal challenges and pressure law enforcement agencies in blue states to take part in mass deportations.”
Mexican Enforcement
Mexico to feel initial blow from Trump victory but has room to negotiate
Cassandra Garrison and Diego Oré, Reuters, November 6, 2024
“Mexico must maneuver carefully now that Donald Trump has secured his return to the U.S. presidency, but Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum still has room to negotiate and soften the impact on trade, migration and security.”
Nearly 200 families separated by US-Mexico border reunite briefly in annual event
Associated Press, November 3, 2024
“Tears flowed and people embraced as Mexican families were allowed to reunite for a few minutes at the border with relatives who migrated to the U.S. Adults and children passed over the Rio Grande to meet with their loved ones.”
Held for Ransom in Animal Pens, Migrants Face Mass Kidnappings as U.S. and Mexico Ramp Up Enforcement
Emily Green, ProPublica, November 1, 2024
“Cartel-affiliated gangs have created an industrial-scale extortion racket that involves kidnapping large numbers of migrants in southern Mexico as the U.S. pressures Mexican authorities to stop people from reaching the U.S. border.”
Desarticulan caravana ‘Caminando con Dios’; serán trasladados a Oaxaca, pero temen sea una trampa
Ramón Bragaña, Milenio, 1 de noviembre de 2024
“Muchos migrantes temen ser devueltos a la frontera sur, expresando su desconfianza en las autoridades y su cansancio por el largo viaje”.
Mexico is a migration treadmill: one step forward ten steps back
Thomas G. Villahermosa, The Times, November 1, 2024
“The scale of the scheme is not public, but one data point the Mexican authorities do collate is ‘encounters’ with migrants: these have doubled from last year to this year. They’ve reported more than 110,000 each month this year.”
Root Causes
Mexico
Nayarit entre el CJNG y el Cártel de Sinaloa: crimen y violencia en ascenso
Abigail Garduza, La Verdad Noticias, 7 de noviembre de 2024
“Nayarit, un estado históricamente tranquilo, se encuentra hoy entre las líneas de fuego de dos de los cárteles más poderosos y violentos de México: el Cártel de Sinaloa y el Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). La entidad, rodeada por los estados de Sinaloa y Jalisco, se ha convertido en un territorio en disputa que enfrenta desafíos críticos en materia de seguridad pública”.
Jornaleros no quieren venir por violencia
El Surco, 7 de noviembre de 2024
“El tema de la inseguridad pudiera tener graves implicaciones para la temporada de cultivos otoño-invierno 2024-2025. Y es que en la búsqueda de mano de obra para levantamientos de las cosechas, los productores se han encontrado con la negativa de los jornaleros quienes temen trasladarse a Sinaloa por la violencia que ha imperado a raíz de la guerra entre las bandas delictivas”.
Ataques armados en dos colonias de Mazatlán dejan al menos una persona herida
Baruc Mayen, infobae, 5 de noviembre de 2024
“A casi dos meses del estallido de la violencia que ha sumergido al estado de Sinaloa en un ambiente de inseguridad, el puerto de Mazatlán fue escenario de dos ataques armados que dejaron un saldo de dos lesionados”.
Golpe al narco: caen nueve sujetos con más de 3 toneladas y media de cocaína en costas de Acapulco
Luis Contreras, infobae, 5 de noviembre de 2024
“Agentes de la Secretaría de Marina (Semar) realizaron el aseguramiento de más de tres toneladas y media de cocaína, además de la detención de nueve personas en costas de Acapulco, Guerrero”.
How Mexican cartels manage the flow of migrants on their way to the US border
María Verza, Associated Press, October 30, 2024
“The first place where many migrants sleep after entering Mexico from Guatemala is inside a large structure, a roof above and fenced-in sides on a rural ranch. They call it the ‘chicken coop’ and they don’t get to leave until they pay the cartel that runs it.”
Guatemala
Guatemala Building a Path Towards Prosperity and Equality
Cities Alliance, October 30, 2024
“Over a year into the Thriving and Advancing in Intermediary Cities project in San Marcos, Guatemala, the initiative is delivering significant outcomes in building economic resilience, expanding educational opportunities, and promoting gender equality among vulnerable populations at risk of migration.”
Ixil Genocide Trial Against Benedicto Lucas Garcia Nears End
Yuliana Ramazzini, El Faro, October 28, 2024
“General Benedicto Lucas García, an emblematic military leader from the Guatemalan armed conflict, who since April is standing trial accused of carrying out genocide against the Maya Ixil people, has been indicted three times in the past decade for war crimes.”
El Salvador
What does Trump’s win mean for El Salvador?
El Salvador Perspectives, November 6, 2024
“Nayib Bukele enjoyed a close relationship with the Trump administration during 2019 and 2020, and in particular with the US Ambassador Ronald Johnson. Trump was pleased with Bukele’s willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration’s efforts to control migration and sent multiple high level officials to meetings in the country. Bukele assisted on migration despite Trump’s attempts to cancel Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) which protects 195,000 Salvadorans from removal, and despite Trump calling El Salvador a ‘shithole country.’”
Ivania Cruz, abogada y defensora de derechos humanos: “Las calles han perdido el miedo a Bukele en El Salvador”
Iñaki Makazaga, El País, 5 de noviembre de 2024
“La abogada salvadoreña ofrece apoyo legal a presos y familiares que quieren denunciar los abusos del estado de excepción. En dos años, más de 80.000 personas han sido detenidas, 30.000 de ellas de forma irregular”.
Thousands of soldiers fence off a Salvadoran neighborhood in pursuit of gang remnants
Marcos Aleman, Associated Press, October 28, 2024
“More than 2,000 soldiers and 500 police officers surrounded a populous neighborhood on the outskirts of El Salvador’s capital on Monday in an effort to quash the remnants of gangs the president said were trying to set up shop in the area.”
Honduras
Honduras- Mixed Movements Protection Monitoring- September 2024
UNHCR, Reliefweb, November 1, 2024
“In September 2024, 21,651 refugees and migrants entered Honduras according to INM, which is an increase of 16% in comparison to the previous month.”
Leaving Honduras-The legacy of US military and economic interference that continues to drive migration
Jeremy Robson, Leah Zamore, Public Seminar, October 31, 2024
“As US border policy grows ever more restrictive, the Biden-Harris administration’s ‘Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America’ strategy is commendable for aiming to tackle the inhumane conditions in Central America that are causing so many people in the region to uproot in the first place.”
Root Causes of Migration: How Climate Change and Environmental Degradation Impact Honduran Asylum Seekers
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, October 24, 2024
“This factsheet highlights key elements of a declaration by renowned expert Donald Hernández Palma, detailing how the devastating effects of climate change and disasters have profoundly impacted human rights in Honduras.”
Regional
Panama Announces 5000 Dollar Fines for Darien Jungle Migrants
The Tico Times, November 2, 2024
“‘Any person who enters the country […] violating immigration control posts, whether by land, air, or sea, will be fined an amount ranging between one thousand dollars and five thousand dollars, depending on the severity of the infraction,’ Mulino said in his weekly press conference.”
The Future of Latin American Migration After U.S. Elections
AFP, The Tico Times, November 2, 2024
“Although Latin America has not been a priority in the campaign for the November 5 elections in the United States, the victory of either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris could have dramatic repercussions for a region from which thousands of migrants head to the United States.”
Desperation over gang violence fuels a surge of migration from Ecuador to the US
Elliot Spagat, Associated Press, October 30, 2024
“The threat of organized crime generally doesn’t qualify people for asylum in the U.S., but that hasn’t prevented Ecuadorians from leaving, making them the fourth-largest nationality arrested at the U.S. border with Mexico over the last year.”
Niñas, niños y adolescentes en movilidad- Escuchando sus voces: Testimonios de miedos, esperanza y resiliencia
El Diálogo and Save the Children, octubre 2024
“A pesar de las terribles situaciones que tienen que atravesar, las niñas y niños siguen viviendo su niñez. Tienen deseos: quieren ser bomberos, policías, médicos, astronautas o veterinarios. También comparten las mismas necesidades básicas, como ir a la escuela, recibir vacunas, jugar y ser protegidos”.
Gender and LGBTQ+
La carga invisible para las mujeres de Latinoamérica
Claudia Rosas, Semanario, 6 de noviembre de 2024
“El trabajo no remunerado es un problema persistente en materia de equidad de género que es particularmente significativo en Latinoamérica. Las mujeres enfrentan una carga desproporcionada de las responsabilidades domésticas y de cuidado, y carecen de un reconocimiento y de una compensación adecuada.”
Una red exige acciones para proteger los derechos de las personas LGBT migrantes de Latinoamérica
Geo Gonzalez, Presentes, 6 de noviembre de 2024
“Más de 30 organizaciones debatieron sobre la vulneración de los derechos de personas LGBT migrantes. Por qué es necesario visibilizar una migración cis-no heterosexual”.
Atención sanitaria con enfoque feminista contra la brecha de género en Latinoamérica
Efeminista, 28 de octubre de 2024
“Especialistas en salud se han reunido en Miami, Florida, durante el ‘Roche Press Day’, para abordar la importancia de centrar la atención en la salud de la mujer y han coincidido en la necesidad de acabar con las brechas existentes mediante un enfoque feminista en la investigación clínica, prevención y tratamientos para enfermedades que afectan desproporcionadamente a las mujeres”.
Climate
Weather Extremes Influence Human Migration Between Mexico and the United States
Grace van Deelen, Eos, November 4, 2024
“The results confirm previous findings that weather stress in agricultural areas can lead to increased migration from those areas, according to Hélène Benveniste, an environmental and social scientist at Stanford University.”
Actions, alerts, resources
U.S. Election Implication on Migration Policy in the Americas
Refugees International, November 2024
“This webinar will explore potential shifts in U.S. migration policy following the election and the resulting impacts on regional cooperation and bilateral agreements; access to protection, pathways, and integration; and funding for enforcement and humanitarian efforts.”
The Overlooked Impact of Immigration on the Size of the Future U.S. Workforce
Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Julia Gelatt, Migration Policy Institute, November 2024
“Immigration has been a flashpoint in the 2024 U.S. elections in ways unseen in decades, driven by record levels of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border and divisive politics. Where there once was a broad consensus across political affiliations that immigration overall was a positive force for the United States, today that sentiment no longer holds for significant swaths of the American public.”
- *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
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