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🟧Week of April 14: I’m off on Thursday and Friday; before that I’m in Washington with a few meetings and a need to finish a Border Update a day early. I’ll try to be reachable, but could be delayed.
You can't tell the arresting officer is a Border Patrol agent because he's wearing a sweatshirt featuring a gothic font popular with Salvadoran gangs. You'll also be surprised that he's a Border Patrol agent because the arrest happened in southeast Washington DC, far from an international border.
This video obtained by the Washington Post shows a Border Patrol agent arresting a Venezuelan father whose only crime was improperly crossing the border in October 2022 when he, his wife, and kids turned themselves in to ask for asylum.
You can’t tell the arresting officer is a Border Patrol agent because he’s wearing a sweatshirt featuring a gothic font popular with Salvadoran gangs. You’ll also be surprised that he’s a Border Patrol agent because the arrest happened in southeast Washington DC, far from an international border. (Because Washington is within 100 miles of a U.S. coastline, it is still an area where Border Patrol is allowed to operate.)
It’s also nearly unprecedented to see a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holder arrested for “improper entry” more than two years ago. We’re in a new and scary era.
The arrested father and mother are currently free, thanks to the quick and aggressive action of attorneys and mutual aid networks.
The notion that "the less we know about you, the scarier you must be, so you have no rights" is as dangerous as it is unhinged.
You’ve probably seen it, but we should keep raising up what an ICE official actually wrote to a federal court on Monday:
Regarding all of the Venezuelan men shipped off to Nayib Bukele’s mega-prison without proof of criminal behavior: “The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA, the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose.”
“TdA” is the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan organized crime group whose true strength and influence are a matter of debate. In his sworn statement to a federal court, the acting director of ICE’s Harlingen, Texas field office, Robert L. Cerna, is imputing individuals’ associations with Tren de Aragua without even bothering to prove them.
And the notion that “the less we know about you, the scarier you must be, so you have no rights” is as dangerous as it is unhinged.
With the USS Gravely, a destroyer, parked near the border in the Gulf of Mexico, migrants can forget about landing their tank battalions, Normandy-style, on Texas beaches.
U.S. Northern Command announced that the Navy has sent an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer—which “can carry 96 missiles, including Tomahawk Land Attack cruise missiles”—to the point where the US-Mexico border hits the Gulf of Mexico.
At Stars and Stripes (which shamefully called the body of water the “Gulf of America”), Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, very diplomatically said that it’s not really clear what the U.S.S. Gravely—a ship that until recently was shooting down Houthi missiles and drones in Yemen—might end up doing along the border.
“It is a bit unique to deploy a capability of this level for this mission set, but I think it goes to the commitment the Navy has to the president and the secretary of defense to support the southern border operations,” Caudle said.
One thing is for sure. For now at least, migrants can forget about landing their tank battalions, Normandy-style, on Texas beaches.
Here are photos of some of the young Venezuelan men whom the Trump administration sent to El Salvador's terror prison on Saturday. With no chance to defend their good name. On the merest suspicion of membership in a criminal group.
Click on the photo to enlarge in a new window.
Here are photos of some of the young Venezuelan men whom the Trump administration sent to El Salvador’s terror prison on Saturday. With no chance to defend their good name. On the merest suspicion of membership in a criminal group.
Their relatives say it’s all false. It’s looking like a monumental, tragic screwup. Get them out and at least give them a hearing.
The captions and sources, clockwise from top left:
Mervin Jose Yamarte Fernandez, 29, is one of 238 Venezuelans accused by the Trump administration of gang affiliation and sent over the weekend to El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Center. His sister recognized him in a video shared on social media, where masked guards shaved the detainees’ heads and escorted them into cells at the maximum-security facility. As the camera panned across the scene, Yamarte slowly turned his gaze toward it. (Yamarte’s family / Miami Herald)
Gustavo Adolfo Aguilera Agüero, 26, from the Venezuelan Andes in Táchira, had been living in Dallas with his wife since December 2023. In early February, Aguilera Agüero was detained by authorities while taking out the trash, according to his wife. Authorities were actually searching for someone else, but Aguilera Agüero spent several weeks in detention, awaiting deportation to Venezuela. Now, his mother, Miriam Aguilera, fears her son may be among the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador. (Aguilera’s family / Miami Herald)
Franco Caraballo, 26, a Venezuelan migrant whose family believes he was sent from the United States to a prison in El Salvador, takes a selfie with his wife Johanny Sanchez, in this undated handout picture provided by his family. (Franco Caraballo’s Family/Handout via REUTERS)
Henry Javier Vargas, 32, originally from Vargas state on Venezuela’s coast, had been living in Aurora, Colorado, for nearly a year when he was detained on January 29. Prior to migrating to the U.S., Vargas spent seven years in Colombia, working as a mechanic in Bogotá. Vargas’s family was able to identify him in a video posted by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, showing the detainees arriving in El Salvador. In the footage, his hands are shackled, and his head is bowed in a moment of despair (Vargas’s family / Miami Herald)
Ringo Rincón was living in Dallas when he was arrested. His girlfriend says she believes he has been taken to a prison in El Salvador with his roommates. (Roslyany Caamaño / The Washington Post)
Francisco García, a barber, with one of his customers. (Photo courtesy of Sebastián García / El Estímulo).
Andy Javier Perozo with his mom, Erkia Palencia, and a note wishing her happy birthday. (Courtesy of Erkia Palencia / The Washington Post)
Four men from Maracaibo, Venezuela “were eking out a new life in Dallas, where they worked long hours and shared a townhouse. Then, on Thursday, armed officers showed up at their home, arrested them and took them to a Texas detention center,” reads a startling report from Silvia Foster-Frau in today’s Washington Post.
Mervin’s younger brother, Jonferson Yamarte, had arrived in Texas. He witnessed the arrests but was not detained and described them to The Post.
He said armed immigration officers were in his living room when he woke up. They asked him to sit down, requested his name and then inquired whether he had tattoos. Scholars and journalists who have studied Tren de Aragua say tattoos are not a reliable indicator of membership in the gang. Relatives of several Venezuelan men whom the Trump administration described as Tren de Aragua members sent to Guantánamo in February also said immigration agents had focused on tattoos. Their relatives denied that their loved ones had ties to the gang.
ICE has not identified any of the 48 individuals apprehended in the “enhanced enforcement operation” centered on Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Roswell. ICE has not indicated where any of them are being detained, whether they have access to counsel, in what conditions they are being held, or even which agency is holding them. These individuals have been effectively forcibly disappeared from our communities.
This one links to the Border Update, a timeline of the Alien Enemies Act judicial order-ignoring fiasco, some links to recent coverage of organized crime-tied corruption in the Americas, some recommended readings, and links to upcoming events.
Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.
This one links to the Border Update, a timeline of the Alien Enemies Act judicial order-ignoring fiasco, some links to recent coverage of organized crime-tied corruption in the Americas, some recommended readings, and links to upcoming events.
If you visit this site a lot, you probably don’t need an e-mail, too. But if you’d like to get more-or-less regular e-mail updates, scroll to the bottom of this page or click here.
“For drug-related crime, state capture is an essential element of doing business. It guarantees that all stages of the logistics chain run with limited risk of seizure or arrest.” Meanwhile, “Mexico is now Latin America’s emblematic case of corruption and co-option by organised crime.”
The winner of a special gubernatorial election in Colombia’s southern department of Putumayo, a major coca-producing zone, faces “allegations of alleged support for his campaign from questionable politicians and of alleged support from the Comandos de la Frontera, a FARC dissident group that controls a large part of Putumayo.”
Argues that Latin America’s criminal organizations now seek relationships at the local level—states/provinces or municipalities/counties—rather than seek to corrupt the topmost levels of government.
Héctor Hernández, a Border Patrol agent in San Diego, allegedly gave Tijuana migrant smugglers “tours” of the border showing them the best sites for crossing migrants, charging them “$5,000 per tour and entry.” That ended in 2023 when Hernández gave a “tour” to an undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent.
12:30-2:00 at George Washington University: Authoritarian Regimes, Gender Based Violence: How Right Wing Governments use the ‘Protective Discourse’ to Justify Their Harms Against Women and Girls (RSVP required).
Thursday, March 20
4:00 at Georgetown University Law School Campus and at Zoom: U.S. Immigration Shifts and Their Impact on Latin America **I’m on this panel** (RSVP required).
Friday, March 21
4:00-7:30 at American University: 3rd Annual Changing Aid Conference (RSVP required).
On social media this morning I underwent a messy process of trying to piece together the timeline of what happened yesterday, as the Trump administration raced to get 238 Venezuelan citizens on planes headed straight for El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s prison system before a federal judge could stop them from using the Alien Enemies Act for that purpose.
The timeline does show that the planes landed well after Washington DC Federal District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order to stop that from happening. Social media is not a great place to explain that as new information emerges, because one can’t edit earlier posts.
Here is a timeline, last edited at 1:30PM Eastern on Tuesday, March 18. (I’ll change that time if I make further updates.)
Sometime Friday March 14: President Trump issues an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, for the fourth time in US history, to allow the swift removal of Venezuelan citizens, regardless of migratory status, accused of membership in the Tren de Aragua criminal group. The Alien Enemies Act is meant to be a wartime jurisdiction, to be invoked at times of declared war, foreign invasion, or foreign “predatory incursion.” It includes no due process rights for those detained or deported, and the U.S. government is not required to prove a tie to Tren de Aragua. The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who has imprisoned nearly 3 percent of his country’s male population, offered on February 3 to jail non-Salvadorans whom the Trump administration sent to El Salvador.
Saturday, March 15: The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward seek a temporary restraining order to halt invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. The case is docketed as J.G.G. vs. Donald Trump.
Saturday, March 15 at 3:10pm and 3:40pm Eastern: Two ICE charter flights flown by contractor GlobalX are to leave Harlingen, Texas for San Salvador. These will be delayed. These weekend ICE flights are unusual.
Saturday, March 15 at 3:51pm Eastern: according to the page’s timestamp, the White House posts the executive order to its website.
Saturday, March 15 at 4:13pm Eastern: A third ICE charter flight flown by GlobalX is to leave Harlingen, Texas for Comayagua, Honduras. It, too, will be delayed.
Saturday, March 15 at 5:00pm Eastern: Judge Boasberg convenes a hearing in the J.G.G. vs. Trump case.
Saturday, March 15 at ~5:20pm Eastern: Judge Boasberg adjourns the hearing until 6:00pm to give the Department of Justice time to confirm whether flights carrying people under the Alien Enemies Act are underway or may depart soon.
Saturday, March 15 at 5:26pm Eastern: GlobalX flight 6143 departs Harlingen, Texas but its destination has changed to Comayagua, Honduras.
Saturday, March 15 at 5:45pm Eastern: GlobalX flight 6145 departs Harlingen, Texas; while the FlightAware app said it was heading for San Salvador, there is an alternate flight plan for Comayagua, Honduras. Subsequent reporting shows that this and the two other planes went to Comayagua: none flew directly to San Salvador. It is not clear why they made this stop en route.
Saturday, March 15 at ~6:05 Eastern: In a private aside, the Department of Justice apparently fails to confirm anything about flights to Judge Boasberg.
Saturday, March 15 at ~6:47pm Eastern: Judge Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order blocking application of the Alien Enemies Act. The New York Timesreported: “Judge Boasberg said he was ordering the government to turn flights around given ‘information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing.’”
Saturday, March 15 at 7:26pm Eastern: A March 16 Justice Department notice refers to a “7:26 PM minute order” from Judge Boasberg.
At this point, all flights should have stopped or turned around.
Saturday, March 15 at 7:36pm Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6143 did not turn around: it lands in Comayagua, Honduras.
Saturday, March 15 at 7:37pm Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6122 departs Harlingen for Comayagua, Honduras.
Saturday, March 15 at 8:07pm Eastern: There are two flight plans filed for GlobalX Flight 6145. The one that turned out to be correct listed the plane landing at this time in Comayagua, Honduras.
Saturday, March 15 at 9:46pm Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6122 lands in Comayagua, Honduras.
Saturday, March 15 at 11:39pm Eastern: A Washington Posttimeline shows a plane departing Comayagua, Honduras at 11:39pm.
Saturday, March 15 at 11:41pm Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6144 departs Comayagua, Honduras for San Salvador, El Salvador.
Sunday, March 16 at 12:06am Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6144 lands in San Salvador.
Sunday, March 16 at 12:10am Eastern: A Washington Posttimeline shows a flight from Comayagua landing in San Salvador.
Sunday, March 16 at 12:41am Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6123 departs Comayagua, Honduras for San Salvador, El Salvador.
Sunday, March 16 at 1:04am Eastern: GlobalX Flight 6123 lands in San Salvador.
Sunday, March 16 at 7:46am Eastern: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele tweets a screenshotted New York Post headline, “Fed judge orders deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gangbangers to return to US” with the comment “Oopsie… Too late 😂.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio retweets this. (This timeline indicates that the judge was not, in fact, “too late.”)
Sunday, March 16 at 8:13am Eastern: Bukele posts footage of people arriving and being dragged off of planes by security forces in riot gear, then roughly herded into his government’s giant Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison. “Today,” Bukele writes, “the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable). The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.”
Sunday, March 16 at 8:39am Eastern: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweets, “Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele.”
Sunday, March 16 at 3:46 PM Eastern: An Axiosarticle by Marc Caputo reports that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem chose not to turn the planes around. Officials claimed to Caputo that they could ignore Judge Boasberg’s order because the planes were already over international waters. A correction added to the story reads, “This story was updated with the White House official’s claim that the administration had ignored the ruling but not defied it, because it came too late.” (This timeline makes clear that the order did not come too late.
Monday, March 17 during the 5:00PM hour, Eastern: Appearing before Judge Boasburg, Department of Justice attorneys refuse to answer basic questions about the flights detailed in this timeline.
Tuesday, March 18 mid-day: Acting ICE Harlingen Field Office Director Robert L. Cerna submits a statement to the court affirming that two of the flights were carrying all of the Venezuelans removed under the Alien Enemies Act proclamation, and that both were in the air by 7:25 PM on March 16, a minute before Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order appeared in writing. The statement seems to assume that the planes could not be called back once in the air, once over international waters, or once on the ground in Honduras—not their final destination—while still carrying out an ICE contract. These assumptions are far from settled.
CBP publishes February border data; “Mass deportation” updates; Active-duty deployment nears 9,600 soldiers; Guantánamo base is currently empty; The impact in Panama and elsewhere; Congressional opponents grow more vocal
With this series of weekly updates, WOLA seeks to cover the most important developments at the U.S.-Mexico border. See past weekly updateshere.
CBP publishes February border data: As the Trump administration shut down asylum access at the border and canceled the CBP One program, the number of people entering CBP custody at the border has plummeted. There are now at least four uniformed security personnel for every apprehended migrant. Migration is also way down in the Darién Gap. Fentanyl seizures are also very low.
“Mass deportation” updates: ICE arrested 32,809 people in the U.S. interior during the first 50 days of the Trump administration. Congress is considering budget measures to make deportations truly “massive.” ICE is increasingly targeting families as it reopens family detention facilities.
Guantánamo base is currently empty: The entire population of 40 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station has been returned to the United States. The operation’s cost so far has averaged $55,000 per detainee.
The impact in Panama and elsewhere: On short-term visas, Panama’s government released 112 Asian, African, and European migrants whom the Trump administration had sent there despite their fears of return. It isn’t clear what their next steps are.
Congressional opponents grow more vocal: Letters and statements from congressional Democrats voiced more alarm and outrage about Trump administration anti-immigration measures, even as a CNN poll showed respondents narrowly approving of Trump’s performance on migration policy.
Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.
This one links to the Border Update, a WOLA podcast about the Mexico tariff nonsense, videos of three recent interviews in English, some links to recent coverage of arms transfers in the Americas, some recommended readings, and links to upcoming events.
If you visit this site a lot, you probably don’t need an e-mail, too. But if you’d like to get more-or-less regular e-mail updates, scroll to the bottom of this page or click here.
Links to 14 articles about recent transfers and trafficking of weapons to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Western Hemisphere Regional
The Trump administration has undone a weak Biden-era restriction on arms sales to countries that might use U.S.-provided weapons in violation of international humanitarian law.
The Milei government is taking delivery on an order of F-16 aircraft begun during the Biden administration, and refurbishing U.S.-provided P-3 aircraft.
El ministro de Defensa, Luis Petri, encabezó un acto junto a la aeronave Nº 25, la cual servirá para adiestramiento y no tiene capacidad de vuelo. Cómo son los misiles que llegarán de los Estados Unidos
Se encuentra a la espera de su turno para ser enviado a las instalaciones del aeropuerto de Keystone Heights, ubicado en la localidad de Florida, base aérea donde se realizarán tareas de puesta en servicio de la aeronave militar.
Central America Regional, Dominican Republic
Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic adopted an OAS “Roadmap to Prevent Trafficking in and the Illicit Proliferation of Arms, Ammunition and Explosives.”
Colombia was to buy Swedish-made Gripen fighter planes, but the U.S. government is vetoing the sale of its U.S.-made engines. Colombia may consider Chinese alternatives.
According to SA Defense the US will block the sale of the GE F414-GE-39E engine, a key component of Sweden’s Saab Gripen E fighter jet, to Colombia’s Air Force
Mexico
Several stories about arms trafficking across the U.S. border, the subject of arguments in Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. weapons companies, which went before the Supreme Court on March 4.
The country claims Smith & Wesson and other gunmakers are turning a blind eye to hundreds of thousands of high-powered weapons made in the U.S that are illegally trafficked into in the hands of Mexican cartels
Under pressure from Trump, the Sheinbaum administration is demanding that the United States combat the firepower of the cartels. Using judicial documents and official reports, EL PAÍS reconstructs the long chain of arms trafficking, which begins in the weapons industry and ends in the streets of Mexico
Nicaragua
Russia delivered helicopters, planes, and anti-aircraft artillery to Nicaragua.
Helicópteros Mi-17, aviones AN-26 y artillería antiaérea modernizada Zushka se han entregado a la Fuerza Aérea del Ejército de Nicaragua
Venezuela
“Venezuela is a shell of a state, held up by illicit narcotic and oil money as well as Chinese, Russian, and Iranian support and posing no realistic threat to the United States. No amount of advanced Russian warplanes will change that.”
408 people migrated northward through the Darién Gap in February, the fewest in a month since November 2020. An expected result of the disappearance of the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
408 people migrated northward through the Darién Gap in February, the fewest in a month since November 2020. An expected result of the disappearance of the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. (data table / source / chart)
Citing cross-border fentanyl trafficking, Trump again imposes and then withdraws tariffs on Mexico; Vance brings cabinet members to Eagle Pass; February saw the fewest Border Patrol migrant apprehensions this century, and perhaps since the 1960s; The U.S. military presence grows at the border; “Mass deportation” slows a bit, pending new money from Congress; Notes on the impact in Mexico and further south
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.
Citing cross-border fentanyl trafficking, Trump again imposes and then withdraws tariffs on Mexico: President Trump followed up on a threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada. The main reason cited was production and trafficking of fentanyl, which has been declining, though it seems apparent that the President’s disdain for trade agreements is a larger factor. Trump later lifted tariffs on most goods for another month.
Vance brings cabinet members to Eagle Pass: Vice President Vance went to the border with the Homeland Security and Defense secretaries. His remarks focused mainly on organized crime in Mexico, not migration.
February saw the fewest Border Patrol migrant apprehensions this century, and perhaps since the 1960s: Donald Trump revealed that Border Patrol apprehended 8,326 migrants along the border in February, which would be the fewest since at least 2000, the earliest year for which public data are available. Monthly averages were lower than that from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s and during and before World War II. As occurred during the first months of Trump’s first term, migrants and smugglers are pausing their decisions to try to enter the country.
The U.S. military presence grows at the border: With the deployment of a Stryker brigade combat team and general support aviation battalion, the number of active-duty military personnel at the border will soon reach 9,000. The overall number of uniformed personnel could be over four times the number of monthly migrant apprehensions.
“Mass deportation” slows a bit, pending new money from Congress: Deportation flights increased modestly in February, and costly military flights have nearly halted since February 21. The Guantánamo Bay naval base is receiving fewer detainees amid cost concerns and interagency coordination issues. The White House is disappointed by its slow start, but a giant spending measure moving haltingly through Congress could remove its funding bottlenecks. Policy changes underway range from easing the firing of immigration judges to expanding expedited removal throughout the country to reopening family detention facilities.
Notes on the impact in Mexico and further south: Asylum applications are way up in Mexico even as migrant shelters empty. Numbers of migrants giving up and returning to South America have grown to the point that Costa Rica and Panama are facilitating southbound transportation.
By imposing tariffs on Mexico, "Trump seems not to want even a transactional relationship, but rather to blow up the relationship." One of the conclusions of a conversation I recorded today with Stephanie and John from WOLA, in the wake of Trump's imposition of tariffs on Mexico.
By imposing tariffs on Mexico, “Trump seems not to want even a transactional relationship, but rather to blow up the relationship.” One of the conclusions of a conversation I recorded today with Stephanie and John from WOLA, in the wake of Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Mexico.
In an expected but still stunning escalation, the Trump administration has imposed 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, citing cross-border flows of fentanyl as justification. The move has sent shockwaves through U.S.-Mexico and North American relations, rattling markets and generating a general outcry.
In this episode, Stephanie Brewer, WOLA’s director for Mexico, and John Walsh, WOLA’s director for drug policy, unpack the political, economic, and security implications of the tariff imposition and an apparent return to failed attempts to stop drug abuse and drug trafficking through brute force.
Brewer breaks down how the tariffs and other new hardline policies, like terrorist designations for Mexican criminal groups and fast-tracked extraditions, are reshaping and severely straining the bilateral relationship.
Walsh explains why Trump’s focus on supply-side crackdowns is doomed to fail, drawing on decades of evidence from past U.S. drug wars. He lays out a harm reduction strategy that would save far more lives.
The conversation concludes with an open question: is Donald Trump really interested in a negotiation with Mexico? Or is the goal a permanent state of coercion, which would explain the lack of stated benchmarks for lifting the tariffs?
Links:
See Brewer and Walsh’s February 14, 2025 Q&A on “Tariffs, Fentanyl, and Migration: Updates on U.S.-Mexico Relations after Trump’s First Month in Office.“
They covered this territory in a December 5, 2024 podcast episode, shortly after Trump—then the president elect—first signaled his intention to impose tariffs.
The December 5 podcast also came with a Q&A: “Trump’s Threats of Tariffs as a Response to Migration and the Fentanyl Overdose Crisis.”
Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.
This one links to the latest Border Update, a subject index to this year’s Updates so far, a brand-new analysis of the military’s role in migration control, a podcast with colleagues at the border in Nogales, links to upcoming events, and two sets of recommended readings.
If you visit this site a lot, you probably don’t need an e-mail, too. But if you’d like to get more-or-less regular e-mail updates, scroll to the bottom of this page or click here.
The Trump administration is encouraging militaries to act like glorified migration agents at the U.S.-Mexico border, in the U.S. interior and even Guantánamo, and also in Mexico and Guatemala.
Here’s a new analysis at WOLA’s website about one of the many ways in which the Trump administration is playing with fire: sending combat-trained soldiers to act as glorified migration agents, potentially confronting civilians while carrying out a politicized mission. We see it happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, in the U.S. interior and even Guantánamo as so-called “mass deportation” ramps up, and also in Mexico and Guatemala in response to U.S. pressure.
The U.S. military—which prides itself on being apolitical—is being forced to lend itself to the current administration’s domestic political priorities. This threatens a historic break with more than a century of restraint in the United States’ democratic civil-military relations.
~10,300 words: In Chile, the Pinochet dictatorship hid the remains of hundreds of its victims. “Can new forensic science help find them—and regain public trust?”
~3,100 words: Both candidates in Ecuador’s April 13 presidential elections seem determined to satisfy the public’s lust for a “mano dura” approach to crime—whether it will work or not.
~3,800 words: Violence between armed and criminal groups is worsening in many parts of Colombia right now. This overview documents what is happening in several regions of the country.
Elliott Woods, A Deadly Passage (Texas Monthly, Monday, March 3, 2025).
~8,200 words: Travels to the forgotten parts of Mexico and Guatemala to speak to the relatives of migrants who perished on June 27, 2022, when 53 people from Mexico and Central America died of heat inside the container of a tractor-trailer near San Antonio, Texas.
~5,600 words: A country-by-country survey of trends for the most closely documented form of violent crime in the part of the world that accounts for a third of the world’s homicides.
11 events about Latin America this week, that I know about, that can be attended in person in Washington or online anywhere.
(Events that I know of, anyway. All times are U.S. Eastern.)
Monday, March 3
9:00-6:00 at Inter-American Human Rights Commission Zoom: 192 Period of Sessions (RSVP required).
Tuesday, March 4
9:00-5:30 at Inter-American Human Rights Commission Zoom: 192 Period of Sessions (RSVP required).
10:00 in Room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building and online: Hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation on Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Immigration Enforcement.
Wednesday, March 5
9:00-5:30 at Inter-American Human Rights Commission Zoom: 192 Period of Sessions (RSVP required).
Reports of southbound migration as people abandon hope of seeking protection in the United States; Another Guantánamo flight arrives, as released detainees reveal horrific conditions; “Mass deportation” updates; “Bridge deportations” continue; The impact on Mexico; Update on CBP’s border drug seizures
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.
Reports of southbound migration as people abandon hope of seeking protection in the United States: As Trump administration measures shut off the possibility of seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, some people who had migrated to Mexico to do that are turning around. Several dozen per day have been boarding boats through dangerous currents to avoid traveling southbound through the Darién Gap.
Another Guantánamo flight arrives, as released detainees reveal horrific conditions: The Trump administration sent 17 more undocumented migrants to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, just 3 days after removing to Venezuela all who had been at the base for up to 16 days. Those released from the facility told of horrific and abusive conditions.
“Mass deportation” updates: The House passed a budget resolution that, like a Senate measure passed a week earlier, could provide a gigantic amount of funding for the administration’s mass deportation plans. These plans appear to include widespread use of military bases and invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
“Bridge deportations” continue: The Trump administration sent to Costa Rica a second plane with migrants aboard from Asia, eastern Europe, and Africa. In Panama, 112 of 299 migrants whom the administration flew there are in a jungle camp, cut off from access to attorneys, as they voice fear of return to their countries of origin.
The impact on Mexico: President Trump appears determined to levy tariffs on Mexican goods on March 4, citing continued flows of fentanyl. U.S. deportation flights to Mexico are now taking people as far south as possible, near the Guatemala border.
Update on CBP’s border drug seizures: Despite Donald Trump’s tariff threats, CBP is finding less fentanyl at the border. Seizures dropped 21 percent from 2023 to 2024, and another 22 percent in the first four months of fiscal 2025, compared to the same period a year earlier. All drugs except marijuana—which continues a sharp decline in seizures—continue to be overwhelmingly encountered at ports of entry.
New WOLA podcast episode: At the border in Nogales, Mexico, migrants tell Kino Border Initiative shelter staff, “They didn’t take our strength. They didn’t take our dignity. People will keep fighting for safety.”
I appreciated this opportunity to spend an hour with three colleagues at the border, with the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, five weeks into the Trump administration. Karen, Bernie, and Diana provide a moving account of what they’re seeing, and what migrants are facing, at this very difficult moment. Here’s the language of the podcast episode landing page at WOLA’s website.
KBI’s facility in Nogales, Sonora.
In the five weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration, the landscape for migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border has shifted dramatically. The new administration is pursuing an aggressive crackdown on asylum seekers, closing legal pathways and ramping up deportations. Migrants who had secured appointments through the CBP One app under the Biden administration found those suddenly canceled. Many are now stranded in Mexico, left in legal limbo and vulnerable to exploitation and danger. The administration is meanwhile increasing its deportations into Mexico of thousands of migrants from Mexico and elsewhere.
This episode takes a deep dive into the current situation in Nogales, Sonora, where asylum seekers and deported individuals are facing increasing hardship and uncertainty. We speak with three frontline experts from the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), an organization providing humanitarian aid, advocacy, and psychosocial support to migrants in crisis.
Our guests—Karen Hernández, KBI’s advocacy coordinator; Bernie Eguia, coordinator of psychosocial support; and Diana Fajardo, a psychologist working with recently deported individuals—share firsthand accounts of the humanitarian crisis. They describe:
The immediate impact of Trump’s policies, including the January 20 mass cancellation of CBP One asylum appointments and a coming surge in deportations.
How migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, and elsewhere are left with dwindling options inside Mexico, facing threats from organized crime, unsafe conditions, and legal roadblocks to seeking refuge.
The role of the Mexican government, which is now receiving deportees under an opaque and militarized process, keeping humanitarian groups at arm’s length.
The psychological toll of displacement, uncertainty, and family separation—and how organizations like KBI are working to provide support amid shrinking resources.
Despite the bleak reality, our guests emphasize the resilience of the people they serve. Even in desperate moments, migrants are holding onto hope and searching for ways to protect themselves and their families. But without systemic change, there is only so much that can be done to relieve suffering.
While recalling the urgent need for humane policies that prioritize protection over deterrence, this conversation underscores the crucial role of organizations like KBI in providing aid and advocating for migrants’ rights.
A topical index of border security, migration, and related human rights issues covered in WOLA's Weekly Border Updates.
Like me, you’re probably having a hard time keeping up with all of the (usually abusive) border and immigration policies that the Trump administration has been throwing at us. As they “flood the zone,” it’s like we need a big bulletin board to pin up every alarming development, so that we can at least keep it on our radar and not let it go forgotten.
Here’s my bulletin board. I’ve just indexed every topic mentioned in 2025’s weekly WOLA Border Updates. There are 70 so far.
Each topic has links to the exact sections of the Border Updates where I covered it.
I’ll keep this up to date all year. I hope you find it as useful as I have so far. (Even though I wrote this stuff, I don’t always remember where it is.)
Migration dropped in January in anticipation of Trump asylum shutoff; Darién Gap migration declines sharply; Deportation flights send third countries’ citizens to Panama and Costa Rica; Guantánamo detainees sent back to Venezuela via Honduras; Congress readies a massive border and deportation spending package; “Mass deportation” updates; Notes on the impact in Mexico
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.
The many actions and changes following Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration force a change in this week’s Border Update format. Instead of narratives organized under three or four topics, this Update organizes brief points under the following headings:
Migration dropped in January in anticipation of Trump asylum shutoff: Customs and Border Protection reported a 36 percent drop in migrant encounters at the border from December to January, deepening a 13-month-long decline in migration. Restrictive Trump policies are the main cause for the new drop. Border Patrol apprehensions are now averaging 285 per day.
Darién Gap migration declines sharply: Migration through the treacherous jungle route from Colombia to Panama dropped to 72 people per day in January, the fewest since February 2021.
Deportation flights send third countries’ citizens to Panama and Costa Rica: In what is being called “bridge deportations,” the Trump administration sent 299 migrants from mostly Asian countries to Panama and 135 to Costa Rica. Both countries are keeping people in remote camps pending their repatriation. The situation of those with protection needs is uncertain.
Guantánamo detainees sent back to Venezuela via Honduras: The Trump administration sent all but one of 178 Venezuelan migrants whom it had been holding at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba to Honduras, where a Venezuelan government plane retrieved them and brought them to Caracas.
Congress readies a massive border and deportation spending package: The Senate passed a framework bill that could pave the way for $175 billion in new border hardening and “mass deportation” spending, which could pass without a single Democratic vote. The timetable is uncertain, though, as House and Senate Republican leaders disagree on the way forward.
“Mass deportation” updates: Top Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with the “flagging” pace of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations so far. The administration plans to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
Notes on the impact in Mexico: Mexico has still not seen a big increase in cross-border deportations from the United States. For now at least, migrant shelters in Mexico are emptying while smugglers raise their prices.
In south Texas, we're witnessing a historic change in soldiers’ ability to confront civilians on U.S. soil, without an emergency to justify it. The Border Patrol sector where 300 troops just got deputized has only 50 migrant apprehensions per day.
In the United States, on U.S. soil, we rarely give combat-trained soldiers—which includes National Guard personnel—the ability to confront or arrest civilians. It only happens during emergencies.
In south Texas, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just did that. It deputized 300 Texas National Guard personnel, operating under the authority of Texas’s state government, to apprehend migrants and enforce federal U.S. immigration law.
“History in the making” indeed.
They’ll be doing that in Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, which covers the borderlands between Falcon Lake and the Gulf of Mexico.
If you’re using soldiers in such a drastic capacity, risking long-term distortions in U.S. civil-military relations, there must be a real emergency going on in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, right?
Wrong. The Sector’s chief says that they’re only apprehending 50 migrants per day right now.
In 2020, the last year before CBP decided to stop publicizing staffing strength, Border Patrol had 3,119 agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. Let’s say it’s 3,000 now. Add 300 soldiers and you’re at 3,300 agents or soldiers.
50 migrant apprehensions per day ÷ 3,300 agents/soldiers =
Each agent or soldier is apprehending an average of 0.015 migrants per day.
No emergency. A historic change in soldiers’ ability to confront civilians on U.S. soil—but no emergency.
Migration plummeting along the U.S.-bound route as the new U.S. administration leads people to pause; Guantánamo: as planes keep bringing migrants, some are not “the worst of the worst”; “Mass deportations”: as Trump blasts their pace, Congress begins work on a giant spending measure; Venezuela sends two planes to pick up deportees; Updates about the U.S. military border deployment; Eight Latin American criminal groups to be added to the U.S. terrorist list; U.S. aid freeze affects programs designed to integrate migrants and receive deported people
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.
The many actions and changes following Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration force a change in this week’s Border Update format. Instead of narratives organized under three or four topics, this Update organizes brief points under the following headings:
Venezuela sends two planes to pick up deportees: Following a friendly meeting between a Trump administration representative and Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan regime sent two planes to Texas to retrieve deported Venezuelan citizens.
Updates about the U.S. military border deployment: The number of active-duty troops and National Guard (state and federal) deployed to the border may now exceed 10,000. Air Force personnel running deportation flights are removing name tape and unit insignias from their uniforms. Those flights cost about three times as much as civilian deportation flights.
Eight Latin American criminal groups to be added to the U.S. terrorist list: The Trump administration is adding eight criminal groups from four countries to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. This will affect the asylum cases of people threatened by these groups, strengthening some cases and devastating others.
Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.
This one links to the latest Border Update, media of two interviews about the border and migration, and a joint statement with colleagues at the border. It has links to events and some recommended readings.
If you visit this site a lot, you probably don’t need an e-mail, too. But if you’d like to get more-or-less regular e-mail updates, scroll to the bottom of this page or click here.
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