Adam Isacson

Defense, security, borders, migration, and human rights in Latin America and the United States. May not reflect my employer’s consensus view.

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December 2022

Latin America Security-Related News: December 13, 2022

(Even more here)

December 13, 2022

Colombia

 Natalia Romero Penuela, Irregularidades y Corrupcion en Unp: Los Casos en los Que No se Protegio a Lideres (El Espectador (Colombia)*, December 13, 2022).

Vehículos con blindajes falsos, funcionarios públicos que se aprovechan de las medidas de protección y la puerta giratoria entre la entidad y empresas privadas son los otros tres casos

 ¿Que Son los Acuerdos Humanitarios y por Que Importan en los Dialogos Con el Eln? (El Espectador (Colombia)*, December 13, 2022).

Uno de los líderes de una de esas zonas propone que la guerrilla apoye un Eje Humanitario, una idea que pretende crear refugios libres de actores armados donde pueda salvaguardarse la población

 Astrid Arellano, ‘Panic’ Sets in as Armed Groups Occupy, Deforest Colombian National Park (Mongabay*, December 13, 2022).

Authorities say illegal cattle ranching, coca growing and land-grabbing are driving deforestation in the park, much of it reportedly done at the hands of armed groups affiliated with FARC dissident factions

 Sair Buitrago, Informe de Onu Senala Que Este Ano Han Sido Asesinados 89 Lideres Sociales (El Tiempo (Colombia)*, December 13, 2022).

La organización intenta establecer el homicidio de otra líderes comunitarios

Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela

* Astrid Suarez, Jorge Rueda, Mexico to Host Next Round of Colombian Peace Talks (Associated Press, *Associated Press*, December 13, 2022).

On Monday, delegates from Petro’s government and the ELN published a statement in which they announced they had agreed on a plan to provide humanitarian relief to rebel fighters in Colombian prisons and also to villages in two regions of Colombia

Cuba

 David C Adams, Autoridades Reportan un Aumento Masivo de Balseros Cubanos en Aguas de Florida (Univision*, December 13, 2022).

Cada vez aparecen más balsas cubanas en aguas estadounidenses debido a la crisis económica en Cuba

El Salvador

 Masacre en el el Mozote: 41 Anos Sin Justicia (Expediente Publico (Honduras)*, December 13, 2022).

Sobrevivientes de los asesinatos en el caserío El Mozote y zona aledañas siguen esperando un juicio contra el alto mando castrense

 Anna-Cat Brigida , El Salvador Crackdown Could Prompt Gangs to ‘Adapt and Reshuffle’ (Al Jazeera*, December 13, 2022).

At least 90 people have died in state custody since March, according to government statistics

Mexico

 Mary Beth Sheridan, Nick Miroff, They Call Him the Eagle: How the U.S. Lost a Key Ally in Mexico as Fentanyl Took Off (The Washington Post*, December 13, 2022).

The untold story of America’s most dependable drug war ally and how the drug war in Mexico fell apart as a river of synthetic drugs flooded the United States

 Cierra Inm Espacio en Tapanatepec y Mantiene la Asistencia a Personas Migrantes (Instituto Nacional de Migración (Mexico)*, December 13, 2022).

El comisionado aclaró que se seguirá proporcionando apoyo en otras instalaciones del instituto a quienes transitan en contexto de migración

Peru

 Adriana Leon, Patrick J. Mcdonnell, Tracy Wilkinson, In Peru, President’s Ouster Just Latest Manifestation of Extreme Political Turmoil (The Los Angeles Times*, December 13, 2022).

While democratic elections are held regularly in Peru, critics say that the results often have more to do with settling scores and politicians getting rich than installing effective governments

 Juan Diego Quesada, La Ira de los Manifestantes Pone a Prueba la Resistencia de la Nueva Presidenta de Peru (El Pais (Spain)*, December 13, 2022).

La muchedumbre ha cortado carreteras, dos aeropuertos y se enfrenta a las autoridades en distintos puntos del país

U.S.-Mexico Border

 Mark Scialla, ‘Hurting People’: The ‘Cover-Up Teams’ Operating on the Us Border (Al Jazeera*, December 13, 2022).

When US Border Patrol pursuits of migrant vehicles have led to accidents, an opaque unit has been among those responding

 Eileen Sullivan, J. David Goodman, Simon Romero, Mass Migrant Crossing Floods Texas Border Facilities (The New York Times*, December 13, 2022).

The arrival of up to 1,000 migrants, the latest big group to have crossed the border, was one of the largest single crossings in recent years in West Texas

 Lauren Villagran, Asylum Seekers Cross en Masse at el Paso-Juarez Border as Title 42 Nears End (The El Paso Times*, December 13, 2022).

“In November, our demographics changed to Nicaraguans. You see the migrants staging and waiting to be transferred”

 Veronica Martinez, Migrantes Desbordan la Frontera Entre Ciudad Juarez y el Paso (La Verdad (Ciudad Juarez Mexico)*, December 13, 2022).

Un cruce masivo de personas migrantes registró Estados Unidos por Ciudad Juárez este domingo, más de mil fueron personas que arribaron a esta frontera en caravana desde el sur del país

Latin America Security-Related News: November 28 – December 12, 2022

(Even more here)

December 12, 2022

Western Hemisphere Regional

 Josefina Salomon, Kate Keelan, 2022, a Year of Human Rights: ‘Despite the Long List of Challenges, There Are Opportunities’ (Washington Office on Latin America*, December 12, 2022).

WOLA’s president, Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, shared reflections on the human rights agenda in the Americas and the challenges to come in 2023

Bolivia, Chile

 Chile Plantea Otra Relacion Con Bolivia, Pero Ven Que al Pais Le Falta Mas Que Voluntad (El Deber (Bolivia)*, December 12, 2022).

Analistas y políticos dicen que Bolivia tiene dos problemas: no maneja una política exterior y no tiene la capacidad profesional para llevar adelante un diálogo exitoso. Desde el MAS responden que sí la tienen

Colombia

 Mads Nissen, Colombia, Cocaine and the Lost War (Financial Times (UK)*, December 12, 2022).

This year, I travelled the country to chronicle the drug trade in all its aspects

 Santiago Torrado, Patricia Tobon Yagari: “Encontramos un Rezago Monumental en el Cumplimiento a las Victimas” (El Pais (Spain)*, December 12, 2022).

La directora de la Unidad para las Víctimas, una indígena embera, considera que llevar el Estado a los territorios olvidados es uno de los mayores retos del Gobierno

 Jep Pide Sancion para 12 Militares por Falsos Positivos Cometidos en Cesar (El Espectador (Colombia)*, December 12, 2022).

Esta vez decidió que 12 de los 15 integrantes del Batallón La Popa del Ejército que fueron imputados por matar a civiles y presentarlos como bajas en combate sean postulados para imponerles sanciones

 Daniela Osorio Zuluaga, Hoy Cierra el Primer Ciclo de Negociaciones: ¿el Eln Cesara Hostilidades? (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia)*, December 12, 2022).

Este lunes se cierra el primer ciclo de conversaciones. Pizarro cuenta en qué ha avanzado la mesa

 Gerardo Reyes, Colombia Mantiene Bajo Hermetismo Investigacion de la Violacion de una Nina Indigena por un Soldado de Ee. Uu. (Univision*, December 12, 2022).

La fiscalía colombiana investiga el caso de la niña de 10 años que dio a luz en 2019 a un bebé en el hospital de San José del Guaviare, capital del departamento amazónico de Guaviare

 Eeuu y Colombia Acuerdan Conferencia para Abordar Migracion Venezolana por el Darien (Tal Cual (Venezuela)*, December 12, 2022).

Tanto Estados Unidos como Colombia manifiestan su preocupación en torno al incremento del flujo migratorio a través del Darién durante 2022

 Jerson Ortiz, Santiago Rodriguez Alvarez, Petrismo Avanza en Democratizar la Policia y Arrebatarle un Nicho a la Derecha (La Silla Vacia (Colombia)*, December 12, 2022).

Es una iniciativa que recoge una promesa de campaña del presidente Gustavo Petro para que “cualquier patrullero pueda llegar a ser General”

Colombia, Venezuela

 Fundaredes: Hay Presencia de Grupos Armados en el 75% de las Escuelas Fronterizas (Tal Cual (Venezuela)*, December 12, 2022).

La ausencia de las autoridades gubernamentales deja espacio para que grupos armados en la frontera interrumpan las actividades escolares de las instituciones educativas en la frontera

Cuba

 Ed Augustin, Frances Robles, ‘Cuba Is Depopulating’: Largest Exodus Yet Threatens Country’s Future (The New York Times*, December 12, 2022).

The pandemic and tougher U.S. sanctions have decimated Cuba’s economy, prompting the biggest migration since Fidel Castro rose to power

Ecuador

 Readout of Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas Trip to Quito, Ecuador (Department of Homeland Security*, December 12, 2022).

Secretary Mayorkas’s visits follow the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas in June and the multinational endorsement of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, which included Colombia and Ecuador among its signatories

Guatemala

 Raul Barreno Castillo, Guerra Contra las Pandillas: Guatemala Refuerza Vigilancia en Fronteras Con Honduras y el Salvador, Pero el Mayor Desafio Es la Migracion Masiva (Prensa Libre (Guatemala)*, December 12, 2022).

Los poblados de Guatemala cercanos a Honduras y El Salvador aún no perciben el peligro que representa la lucha contra las pandillas, pero analistas consideran que el tema debe tomarse con seriedad

 Guatemala Es “Irresponsable” Con Migrantes Venezolanos, Afirma Sacerdote Que Dirige la Casa del Migrante (EFE, *Prensa Libre (Guatemala), December 12, 2022).

“Estamos hablando de un filtro a servicio de Estados Unidos”, añadió el sacerdote, para describir la postura tomada por Guatemala y México

Honduras

 Carlos Barrera, Roman Gressier, Honduran State of Exception Expands Bukele’s Echo in the Region (El Faro (El Salvador)*, December 12, 2022).

The same day Nayib Bukele staged a military siege of the gang bastion Soyapango, Xiomara Castro decreed a state of exception before deploying police and military in 162 of Honduras’ most marginalized urban communities

Mexico

 Rocio Gallegos, Veronica Martinez, Chihuahua Cierra Paso a Caravana de Migrantes y Pide su Repatriacion (La Verdad (Ciudad Juarez Mexico)*, December 12, 2022).

Migrantes de diferentes nacionalidades en ruta hacia Estados Unidos están varados en el municipio de Jiménez, al sur de Chihuahua

Peru

 Franklin Briceno, Regina Garcia Cano, New Peru President Appears With Military to Cement Power (Associated Press, *Associated Press, December 12, 2022).

Peru’s first female president appeared in a military ceremony on national television on Friday in her first official event as head of state, an attempt to cement her hold on power

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Latin America-related events online and in Washington this week

Monday, December 12

  • 3:00-4:30 at csis.org: Defending Transparency and Advancing Anticorruption in the Western Hemisphere (RSVP required).

Tuesday, December 13

Wednesday, December 14

  • 1:30-3:00 at wilsoncenter.org: 200 Years of U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Relations: An Ambassadorial Perspective (RSVP required).

Thursday, December 15

  • 1:00-2:00 at atlanticcouncil.org: US-Mexico ties at the bicentennial and weeks from NALS (RSVP required).

Video en español de hoy

Tuve una muy interesante discusión hoy, aquí en Washington en el programa Foro Interamericano de la Voz de América, con Néstor Osuna, el ministro de justicia de #Colombia. Hablamos sobre la política antidrogas y la política exterior de EEUU.

Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: December 9, 2022

With this series of weekly updates, WOLA seeks to cover the most important developments at the U.S.-Mexico border. See past weekly updates here.

This week:

  • The Title 42 pandemic expulsions authority is scheduled to terminate in less than two weeks, in accordance with a November court ruling. A Biden administration appeal will not change that date, but a challenge from Republican state governments might. The Senate may soon consider a still-unpublished bill that could prolong Title 42 for a year in exchange for giving legal status to “Dreamers.” Meanwhile, preparations for a post-Title 42 reality continue: shelters are anticipating increased populations, and the Biden administration is considering other means to block or limit asylum seekers, including something similar to the Trump-era “transit ban.”
  • Migration through Panama’s Darién Gap declined by 72 percent from October to November. The main reason appears to be an October expansion of Title 42 that made it impossible for citizens of Venezuela to pursue asylum in the United States. The number of Venezuelan citizens in the Darién dropped by 98 percent.
  • In November, Mexico’s asylum system received its largest monthly number of applications in a year. Applications from citizens of Venezuela, now denied the chance to seek protection in the United States, increased by 27 percent over October.

What’s next after Title 42, if it ends on December 21

It is now less than two weeks from December 21, when, in accordance with a November 15 court ruling, the Title 42 pandemic authority is to end. Title 42 has expelled about 2.5 million people without a chance to seek asylum since the Trump administration first implemented it in March 2020.

The administration appeals

On December 7, the Biden administration’s Justice Department informed D.C. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of its intent to appeal Sullivan’s November 15 ruling. The administration, however, is not seeking to prolong the current Title 42 order. The Justice Department filing does not ask for Judge Sullivan’s ruling to be paused: its intent appears to be to preserve the executive branch’s future ability to employ Title 42 to expel migrants for public health reasons.

The Justice Department stated that it would seek to put this case on hold while the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Louisiana and Texas) considers its appeal of another case: a Louisiana district court’s decision that had prevented the Biden administration from ending Title 42 in May 2022. The Louisiana decision had taken issue with the administration’s process for terminating Title 42, which it had planned to end on May 23. Judge Sullivan’s decision struck down the use of Title 42 entirely.

Meanwhile, 19 Republican state governments are asking Judge Sullivan to suspend his ruling. If he does not do so—as appears likely—the states could seek to have the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court hear the case. Should those higher courts agree to do so, and should they decide to stay (suspend) Judge Sullivan’s decision while appeals proceed, then Title 42 would remain in place for some time after December 21.

While the legal maneuvering proceeds, a Biden administration official told CBS News that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “continues to charge full speed ahead in preparing for Title 42 to lift on December 21.”

(For more background on this confusing narrative, see the timeline of major Title 42 developments at the end of this section.)

Possible legislation

On December 5, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent revealed that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) were negotiating a bipartisan bill to resolve the situation of “Dreamers”—up to 2 million undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children and know no life in any other country.

The current legislative session, which ends on December 31, could be the last chance to find a legal solution for Dreamers. The House of Representatives elected in November will have a slight Republican majority, and its leadership has indicated fierce opposition to any softening of immigration policy. The Obama administration executive order that had found a temporary solution for about 700,000 Dreamers (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA) was ruled illegal by a Texas judge in 2021, and the future of appeals leading to the conservative U.S. Supreme Court appears grim.

To entice Republicans to vote for a legal status for Dreamers, the Sinema-Tillis legislation, Sargent and others report, might:

  • increase resources for migrant processing,
  • hire more border agents,
  • increase prosecutions of improper border crossers,
  • quickly remove those who don’t qualify for asylum, and—most controversially—
  • extend Title 42 expulsions for at least another year.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) has expressed “serious concerns” about the proposed bill, especially the proposal to prolong Title 42, which could cause hundreds of thousands more expulsions of migrants, many of them asylum seekers. A statement from several non-governmental groups (including WOLA) under the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign opposes “a shocking proposal to extend Title 42 for another year and additional proposals that would indefinitely curtail asylum rights.”

To move forward under Senate rules (the filibuster), this bill would require 60 senators to vote to end debate and allow a vote. Assuming that all 50 Democrats back this bill—far from certain, due to progressives’ discomfort with the Title 42 extension—Sinema and Tillis would need to convince 10 Republicans to allow it to come to a vote. That may prove very difficult, as Congress approaches the final two or three weeks of its session still needing to pass the entire 2023 federal budget and the Defense Department’s authorization.

On December 8, Sen. Tillis indicated that he and Sen. Sinema expect to finalize their bill language by Friday, December 9.

Preparations for an increase in migration

It is reasonable to expect protection-seeking migration to increase at the border after December 21, if Title 42 does truly end on that date. Data, presumably from CBP, leaked to Fox News point to 207,000 migrant encounters at the border in November, which is similar to October (it is not clear whether the number includes migrants encountered at ports of entry).

Read More

Timeline of major Title 42 developments

This (likely with a bit more editing/polish) will be in tomorrow’s WOLA Border Update, but it’s also useful as a standalone post:

  • March 2020: The Trump administration’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) imposed the measure, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as U.S. borders closed to most travel. Citing the difficulty of detaining asylum seekers in congregate settings where viruses could spread, the order—drafted by hardline immigration opponents in the Trump White House, citing an obscure 1940s quarantine law—suspended the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. It ordered CBP to block asylum seekers from approaching ports of entry (official border crossings) and to quickly expel all migrants, regardless of protection needs, apprehended elsewhere. It was later revealed that CDC officials opposed this application of Title 42, but bent under intense political pressure. Mexico agreed to accept land-border expulsions of 4 countries’ citizens: its own, plus those of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
  • November 2020: D.C. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that Title 42 could not be used to expel unaccompanied child migrants. This decision was overturned on appeal in January 2021, just before Joe Biden’s inauguration, but the Biden administration has chosen not to expel non-Mexican unaccompanied children. The Trump administration had expelled unaccompanied kids 15,863 times between March and November 2020.
  • January 2021: The Biden administration kept the Title 42 measure in place. Of all Title 42 expulsions since March 2020, at least 81 percent have taken place since Joe Biden’s inauguration.
  • August 2021: After negotiations with the Biden administration broke down, the ACLU and other organizations resumed litigation challenging Title 42 in D.C. District Court.
  • September 2021: Following a large-scale arrival of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas— notorious for disturbing images of Border Patrol agents on horseback charging at migrants—the Biden administration began a large-scale campaign of aerial expulsions back to Haiti. Witness at the Border would count 229 expulsion flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien between September 2021 and May 2022.
  • March 2022: The CDC decided that the pandemic’s reduced intensity made it possible to end Title 42 expulsions. The Biden administration set May 23, 2022 as Title 42’s termination date.
  • April 2022: Human Rights First reported tracking “at least 10,250 reports of murder, kidnapping, rape, torture and other violent attacks against migrants and asylum seekers blocked in or expelled to Mexico due to Title 42 since the Biden administration took office.”
  • May 2022: Mexico agreed to accept land-border expulsions of Cubans and Nicaraguans for a few weeks, until May 23.
  • May 2022: In response to a lawsuit brought by Republican state attorneys-general, Louisiana Federal District Court Judge Robert Summerhays issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden administration from lifting Title 42. The May 23 deadline was revoked, and expulsions continued.
  • August 2022: For the first time ever, migrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras comprised less than half of the population of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border. This was largely because migrants from these countries faced a very high probability of Title 42 expulsion, but citizens of all other countries (especially Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia) were more difficult for the U.S. government to expel; most were being released into the U.S. interior.
  • October 2022: The U.S. and Mexican governments announced that Mexico has agreed to accept land-border expulsions of citizens of Venezuela.
  • November 2022: In the case (Huisha-Huisha vs. Mayorkas) brought by the ACLU and other organizations, Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down Title 42. He acceded to a Biden administration request for five weeks in which to wind down the policy. Republican state attorneys general filed a motion to allow them to intervene in the suit.

“Preparing for US War with China”

The latest edition of the US Air Force Air War College’s Journal of the Americas—which I hope will invite other genders to contribute next time—has six articles, and two of them are about China. One, ominously titled “Preparing for US War with China—2025–2032.”

Soyapango, El Salvador

From El Salvador’s Gato Encerrado, reporting on the government’s encirclement of Soyapango, a poor San Salvador suburb, with 8,500 soldiers (about 1/3 of El Salvador’s military) and 1,500 police. The troops and cops are doing sweeps to arrest people whom they believe are gang members.

Translated caption of this photo, credited to Melissa Paises: “According to the human rights organization Cristosal, the majority of the more than 56,000 people detained under the emergency regime have been young men between the ages of 18 and 30, who were detained simply for their appearance or for living in stigmatized areas such as Soyapango.”

65+ free-to-use photos of border surveillance tech

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has posted and shared, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, more than 65 photos of camera towers, aerostats, and other surveillance technologies deployed along the border. Some of this tech has “negative impacts for human rights or the civil liberties of those who live in the borderlands,” EFF notes.

Here’s one labeled “An extreme close-up shot of the lens of an Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) camera on Coronado Peak, Cochise County, AZ”:

Denying the right to asylum led to fewer asylum seekers transiting Panama’s Darién Gap

Panama just posted November records of migration through the dangerous Darién Gap jungles that straddle its border with Colombia. The result is unsurprising. They show that denying protection to people, even as it violates international human rights standards, will keep them from trying to come, at least in the short term.

Migration through the Darién plummeted 72 percent from October to November. This was led by a 98 percent drop in migration from Venezuela.

That fewer people risked crossing through the Darién Gap should be good news: hundreds each year die, are attacked, and suffer sexual violence along this ungoverned 60-mile walk. But the reason for the decline is not a happy one.

On October 12, the U.S. and Mexican governments announced that any Venezuelan citizens encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border would be swiftly expelled back into Mexico, without even affording them the chance to seek asylum. That denial of asylum is usually illegal, but the U.S. government invoked the Title 42 pandemic authority, in place since March 2020. On November 15, a U.S. federal judge struck down Title 42, so the expulsions should stop by December 21.

For now, though, the Title 42 expansion forced a pause in U.S.-bound migration through the Darién Gap. For unclear reasons, November also saw declines in migration of citizens from Peru (-92%), Colombia (-87%), Cameroon (-44%), Afghanistan (-31%), the Dominican Republic (-30%), and Ecuador (-25%). Other countries increased, though: Nigeria (+56%), China (+38%), Haiti (+24%), India (+20), and Bangladesh (+18%).

Despite the November decline, 2022 is already the busiest year for migration in the history of the Darién Gap, which until recently was viewed as nearly impenetrable.

Asylum requests are increasing again in Mexico’s system

13,217 migrants applied for asylum in Mexico’s system in November 2022, the most in a month since November 2021, according to the Mexican government’s Refugee Aid Commission (COMAR). November’s asylum requests increased 15 percent over October, and 47 percent over September.

From October to November, COMAR received the largest increase in applications from citizens of Venezuela—27 percent—though the number of Venezuelan applicants was in second place behind that of citizens of Honduras. Venezuela’s applications almost certainly increased because, after the U.S. and Mexican governments began applying Title 42 and expelling Venezuelans into Mexico on October 12, Venezuelan citizens could no longer seek protection in the United States.

All nationalities measured increases in asylum applications from October to November:

  • Venezuela: +27%
  • Haiti: +17%
  • Dominican Republic: +14%
  • Colombia: +12%
  • Honduras: +12%
  • El Salvador: +12%
  • Others: +12%
  • Brazil: +12%
  • Guatemala: +12%
  • Cuba: +11%
  • Nicaragua: +5%

Despite what you hear from some U.S. politicians and media outlets, the Americas’ ongoing migration event is not just a US-Mexico border phenomenon. People are fleeing everywhere. Colombia and others are assimilating millions of Venezuelans. Costa Rica is doing the same with Nicaraguans. And here’s Mexico.

Mexico’s use of the military for migration missions

In the past month or two, Mexico again increased the number of soldiers, marines, and national guardsmen assigned to border and migration duties. The most recent count, as of November 21, was 31,777 individual military personnel.

The numbers come from “security reports” periodically presented at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conferences, and uploaded to the Mexican Presidency’s website:

On proposed legislation to protect “Dreamers” by sacrificing asylum seekers

My bit of a joint statement released by the #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign:

“It’s good to finally see some legislative movement to get Dreamers out of the cruel limbo in which they’re forced to live,” said Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America. “But you’ve probably heard about the ‘Trolley Problem,’ an ethical thought experiment in which a person is forced to choose between two outcomes, both of which do severe harm to other human beings.

“This legislation creates a trolley problem where none need exist. It would preserve Title 42 for a year, condemning a year’s worth of asylum seekers to summary expulsion; many would face death, torture, gender-based violence, and other harm. The other choice—failing to pass this legislation—would devastate the lives of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers, who are our fellow Americans.

“This is a false dilemma, a completely unnecessary choice. It should be just as possible to give Dreamers the relief they deserve, while fixing our rickety asylum system so that it can meet the demands of an era of historic worldwide migration. There is no need to harm one population to help another.”

Coca in Mexico

During the López Obrador government (since December 2018), Mexican forces have eradicated 33.6 hectares of coca, according to the country’s presidency.

(Colombia, the most energetic eradicator, reported destroying 103,000 hectares in 2021 and nearly 60,000 in 2022 through October.)

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