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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Email Update is Out

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 has a weekly Border Update, links to recent coverage of arms transfers in the region, new data about migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and an old video of a Venezuelan colleague about whom I’m extremely worried right now. Also, links to events this week and readings from last week.

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.

Email Update is Out

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 has a weekly Border Update, new data from the Darién Gap, a podcast about Guatemala’s tenuous but hopeful political moment, an interview about the border, and some links from the past month about civil-military relations in the Americas. And of course, upcoming 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.

Email Update is Out

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 has a weekly Border Update, two explainers about the Senate border deal (which may be dead anyway), some recommended Latin America security long-reads, two posts with charts illustrating migration trends and the futility of deterrence policies, a radio interview about Texas, and a TV interview about El Salvador. And of course, upcoming 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.

Email Update is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

This week’s edition is as jam-packed as you’d expect from someone working on border and migration policy at this moment. There’s a weekly Border Update, a podcast, nine charts explaining December migration data, links about organized crime-tied corruption in the Americas, and a Spanish podcast about the U.S. elections. And of course, upcoming 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.

Email Update is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

This week’s edition has a fair amount of content, including a weekly Border Update, a panel discussion, and a look at Colombia’s peace process over the past month. And of course, upcoming 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.

Long Live Blogging

I was a heavy Twitter user, posting a few times per day, with a healthy following. But by last year, months into the Musk reign, I’d had enough. On September 10, I decided to make my Twitter account “dormant,” using it only to post links to resources published elsewhere, like on this site.

The result, measured in visits to this site, has been staggering:

From just over 1,000 visits per month to nearly 10,000, in about 4 months.

I’m regretting not having moved earlier to cut back my social media use, and intensify blogging which, though 25 years old, remains a very vital tool for communicating.

Get Daily Border Links in your Email

I’ve established a pretty good morning workflow to produce these “daily border links” updates, a key part our 2024 rapid-response approach to migration and border security issues. So in order to make them even more accessible, I’ve created a Google Group mailing list, so you can get them in your inbox as soon as I publish them.

Just click the link and add your e-mail address if you’re interested.

Email Update Is Out

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 has a bit less new material since I’m just back from break. But this one has some updates from early January, links about civil-military relations in the region, 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.

Offline for Seven Days

This site is going into suspended animation for about a week, as I take a break with the family from January 4 through 10. I’ll be back, and posting again, on Thursday the 11th.

I don’t expect to post anything here while I’m off, unless inspiration strikes and Internet access is reliable. See you in a week.

Email Update Is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

I’d said in the previous email that it was the last email of the year. But it turns out that there are were few additional items to share from this past week. So this is the last email of the year. It has the weekly Border Update, more new migration numbers, a panoramic WOLA podcast episode, some written congressional testimony about Colombia, and the usual links.

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.

Email Update Is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

This is almost certainly my last e-mail of the year, and it’s packed with links to stuff we’ve made, all of which has already been linked from this page. It’s got a great video from Colombia, this week’s Border Update, another congressional testimony, some charts, links to stuff to read, and more. There are no links to Latin America-related events, because I couldn’t find any announcements for events during the week before Christmas.

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.

Email Update Is Out

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 is a bit shorter because I’ve been drafting a report on my late October-early November trip to Colombia. But there’s still the weekly border update (and a daily one), links to a few recommended articles, and links to upcoming events, among other stuff.

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.

E-mail Update Is Out

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 is a day or so late because last week’s House hearing pushed all of my work into the future and I’m still catching up. It has a link to the Border Update, links to my hearing testimonies, some new infographics about migration and the security forces in Mexico, and links to 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.

E-mail Update Is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

I missed my usual weekend send date for this one because I was up to my eyeballs in border infographics, and I won’t send one this coming weekend because it’s the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. So this is the last e-mail until the beginning of December. It has a link to the Border Update, our memo about what’s happening in Congress, infographics about migration, and links to 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.

Border and Migration Infographics: Update and Upgrade

At WOLA’s Border Oversight site, I’ve updated all of our giant collection of charts and graphics about border security and migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and along the U.S.-bound migration route.

There’s about 90 charts there. That’s hard to navigate. In order to fix that, I’ve added a table of contents to the archive.

Here, through the magic of copy-and-pasting, is that table of contents:

Visualizations of data related to U.S. border governance and migration

 

At the U.S.-Mexico Border

Yearly Apprehensions or Encounters

  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by year and by country, since 2007 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by year since 1960, and by year and by country (Mexico and non-Mexico) since 2000 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by year since 1960, and by year and by demographic category since 2012 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by year and by demographic category since 2012, showing the proportion of children and families (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with all migrants, last three full years by country, three-column presentation (View) (Data table)

Monthly Apprehensions or Encounters

  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with all migrants, by month and by country, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with single adult migrants, by month and by country, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with family-unit and accompanied child migrants, by month and by country, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with unaccompanied child migrants, by month and by country, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol + CBP encounters with all migrants, last three months by country, three-column presentation (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, last three months by country, three-column presentation (View) (Data table)
  • CBP port-of-entry encounters with all migrants, last three months by country, three-column presentation (View) (Data table)
  • Percentage of all migrants encountered by CBP at ports of entry, last three months by country, three-column presentation (View) (Data table for port of entry encountersall migrant encounters)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by border sector, since October 1999 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by demographic, since October 2011 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of family unit members and unaccompanied children, by month and by demographic, since October 2011 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of single adults, by month, since October 2011 (View) (Data table)

Border Sectors

  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by border sector, since October 2020 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the San Diego Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the El Centro Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Yuma Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Tucson Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the El Paso Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Big Bend Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Del Rio Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Laredo Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
  • Border Patrol apprehensions of all migrants, by month and by country, in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, since October 2019 (View) (Data table)
Read More

E-mail Update Is Out

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 is full of stuff. A link to the Border Update, and to a photo collection. Updates about what’s happening in Congress. Some new infographics about migration. An event video. Links to recommended reading and 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.

E-mail Update Is Out

Here’s a new “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them.

I only just returned mid-day Saturday from two weeks in Colombia, so there’s no news links or analysis in this one. But it does have links to upcoming events and lots of photos from my trip.

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.

E-mail Update Is Out

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’s very short, as I’m on the road, in Colombia, and shouldn’t be posting about the region that I’m currently in. So it’s mainly just my October 27 post about the Darién region.

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.

E-mail Update Is Out

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’s shorter because I’m somewhere in Colombia right now, at the beginning of a two-week research trip to a few regions. That’s keeping me from “generating content” like the weekly border updates. But there’s still some good stuff here, and I’ll aim to keep posting these from the road.

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.

Traveling October 21-November 4

I’m leaving today for a 2-week research trip to a region where a lot of migration is happening. I plan to post about where I’ve been after I leave each territory.

Posts here will be less frequent, because the schedule is packed, but I look forward to sharing.

E-mail Update Is Out

screenshot of this week's update

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 features the border update; a statement about basic values at a time of record protection-seeking migration; current migration numbers from the U.S. border and the Darién Gap; links to a few recommended articles; and some upcoming events.

E-mails may be shorter and more irregular for the next three weeks, as I’m planning some work travel that will disrupt regular “content generation”—on this site, also.

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.

E-mail Update Is Out

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 features the border update; a podcast with experts on non-violent social change in the Americas; a commentary on the administration’s October 5 border wall announcement; more data insights about migration trends and border drug seizures; short commentaries on historical U.S. aid and judicial presence in Colombia; links to a few recommended articles; and some 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.

Connected to the Fediverse

This site is connected to ActivityPub (the “Fediverse”). That means that on Mastodon, Pleroma, Lemmy, and similarly connected platforms (perhaps including Threads at some point), you can get some version of these posts in your feed. Just search for the account @adamisacson​​@adamisacson.com.

It seems to be working just fine in Mastodon:

E-mail Update Is Out

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 has links or excerpts from the Border Update; a video about migration; some infographics; links about Tamaulipas, Mexico, El Salvador, and a new UN report on the United States; a couple of recent video clips; links to a few recommended articles; some upcoming events; and just a few funny posts from others.

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.

E-mail updates are back

After an inexcusably long time, I’ve produced a “weekly” e-mail about stuff I’ve been working on, for those who’ve signed up to receive them. Resuming these was delayed by the collapse of the service I was using to send them, but that’s no excuse: it’s been on my to-do list since January (yes, I’ve been clicking “postpone 7 days” every week since January, which is pathetic).

This one has links or excerpts from the Border Update, some charts reflecting new data about migration, a couple of brief analyses about Colombia, some news links, a list of upcoming events, and just a few funny posts from others.

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.

I’m Out.

Auto-reply message:

I'm on vacation between Monday, June 5 and Monday, June 19, which may delay my reply. I will be many time zones away and may not reply quickly even to urgent messages.

Estaré de vacaciones entre el lunes 5 y el lunes 19 de junio, lo que puede retrasar mi respuesta bastante. Estaré a muchas zonas de tiempo de distancia, y puede que no responda rápidamente incluso a los mensajes urgentes.

That does it for me until mid-June. I’m off for our big yearly vacation.

If I don’t reply to your message, it’s not you, it’s me… on the other side of the planet. See you in a couple of weeks. 😌✈️

Headed to Honduras

I’m flying first thing Wednesday morning for a research trip to Honduras, a country where I have to admit I’ve done little work in recent years. The last time I was there was 2005 or 2006. I look forward to working again in Central America, where I started my career in the 1990s.

Source: UNICEF/Consorcio LIFE Honduras

I’m sorry, of course, that it’s necessary to do so. Honduras is one of several countries on the route between the Darién Gap and Mexico, a route being transited by something like 1,000 people per day. (Honduras measured an average of 689 “irregular” migrants transiting the country during each of the first 112 days of 2023—mostly from Venezuela, Haiti, and Ecuador—but hundreds more per day probably evaded detection.)

With a few WOLA colleagues, I’ll be in the country’s two largest cities, and in zones along the Nicaraguan and Guatemalan borders. I’ve got a long list of research questions, which will form the backbone of a report I hope to publish as quickly as possible after our return. The outline’s “Roman numerals” so far are:

  • Migrants transiting Honduras
  • Honduran migrants returned
  • Honduran government response
  • How U.S. government policy shapes what migrants experience
  • Response of other international actors

I will post photos and impressions (for security reasons, after I leave a region) both here and at my Mastodon account.

I’m grateful to all who have agreed to meet with us in the coming days, and to those who’ve offered me some extremely useful advice as I prepared the trip.

This is the first time in many years that I’ve organized a trip to a place where I don’t already have a lot of relationships with people. In Honduras, I only have a few. But I expect to change that over the next several days.

Addendum added 8pm on April 25: Here’s the nationalities of migrants encountered by authorities in Honduras since January 2022. You can see a notable recent drop in Cuban migrants and increase in Venezuelan migrants. Both are subject to Title 42 expulsion into Mexico, but Venezuelans have become at least somewhat adept at using the “CBP One” app to make appointments for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Off today

It’s a national holiday here in the United States, and we have a family visit today. I’ll be away from the keyboard for much of the day and unable to respond to messages until, probably, late afternoon.

Back at work

Holiday break is over. Jury duty is over (they almost picked me for a week-long civil trial, but chickened out). I’m back at the job, full time.

Here’s a nice live version of New Zealand’s The Beths playing “Expert in a Dying Field”:

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.