Adam Isacson

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

Events

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Monday, July 31, 2023

  • 11:00-12:00 at the Heritage Foundation and online: Catch, Release, and Then What? (RSVP required).

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

  • 12:30-1:30 at wilsoncenter.org: Argentina Elige: A Conversation with Luciano Laspina, Argentine Congressman and Senior Economic Adviser to Presidential Candidate Patricia Bullrich (RSVP required).
  • 6:00-7:00 at thedialogue.org: Elections Series – The Role of the Judiciary in Electoral Contexts: A View from Latin America (RSVP required).

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

  • 12:00-1:30 at wilsoncenter.org: Presentación del reporte del “Foro nacional sobre feminicidio: Visiones y soluciones” y del reporte sobre “Los avances legislativos y propuestas que se encuentran pendientes de aprobar en materia de feminicidio en México” (RSVP required).
  • 2:00-3:00 at wola.org: Abuses at the U.S.- Mexico Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights (RSVP required).

Friday, August 4, 2023

  • 10:00-10:45 at csis.org: Looking South: A Conversation with GEN Laura Richardson on Security Challenges in Latin America (RSVP required).
  • 1:15-2:30 at the Inter-American Dialogue and online: A Conversation on Central America (RSVP required).

Event and Report Launch Wednesday… been working on this one for a while

Next Wednesday, WOLA is publishing a report that I’ve been working on for months, with colleagues at the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales.

It’s an in-depth look at

  • CBP’s and Border Patrol’s serious, pervasive human rights problem
  • Why DHS’s accountability efforts constantly fail
  • What we can do about it

Our launch webinar is at 2PM Eastern next Wednesday, August 2.

There’s a lot of ground to cover! Join us if you can – here’s the RSVP link.

Here’s the text of the event announcement from WOLA’s website.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Kino Border Initiative (KBI) cordially invite you to the following webinar:

Abuses at the U.S.- Mexican Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights

A U.S.-Mexico border that is well governed can go hand in hand with a border where migrants and asylum seekers receive humane treatment. For this to happen, U.S. government personnel who abuse human rights or violate professional standards must be held to account and victims must receive justice.

Right now, at the U.S.-Mexico border, this rarely happens. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal government’s largest civilian law enforcement agency, has a persistent problem of human rights abuse without accountability. 

Many, if not most, CBP officers, and agents in CBP’s Border Patrol agency, are professionals who seek to follow best practices. However, the frequency and severity of abuse allegations suggests that agents who do, have little reason to be concerned about consequences from an accountability system that yields few results.

Join us to discuss the launch of our new report, Abuses at the U.S.-Mexican Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights. While documenting the problem at the border and showing “failure points” to accountability, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) offer more than 40 recommendations for more effective complaints, investigations, discipline, oversight, and cultural change. 

The report is a product of years of work documenting human rights violations committed by U.S. federal law enforcement forces at the U.S.-Mexico border. WOLA, based in Washington D.C, maintains a database of over 400 cases—many of them severe—compiled since 2020. KBI has documented thousands of cases of abuse narrated by migrants who have sheltered at its facilities in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. KBI has generated hundreds of formal complaints since 2015 in an effort to improve accountability. 

Of complaints since 2020, 95 percent resulted in no accountability outcome at all. Changing an abusive culture, and increasing the probability of accountability, can take many years and will face political headwinds. But as the many, often shocking, abuses documented by both organizations make strikingly clear, there is no other choice: this is a matter of democratic rule of law, both at the border and beyond it. The United States must bring its border law enforcement agencies’ day-to-day behavior back into alignment with its professed values, especially at a time of historic migration.

With:

Adam Isacson

  • Director for Defense Oversight, Washington Office on Latin America, WOLA

Zoe Martens

  • Advocacy Coordinator, Kino Border Initiative, KBI

Joanna Williams

  • Executive Director, Kino Border Initiative, KBI

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

14:00 – 15:00 ET / 11:00 – 12:00 MST

Register to join the webinar here.

Latin America-Related Events in Washington and Online This Week

Tuesday, July 25

  • 2:00 at Americans for Immigrant Justice Zoom: What is the Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) process? (RSVP required).

Wednesday, July 26

Thursday, July 27

Latin America-Related Events in Washington and Online This Week

Tuesday, July 11

  • 12:00 on Zoom: “Cómo informar al público latino/centroamericano en Estados Unidos sobre los temas que ocurren en la región (RSVP required).

Wednesday, July 12

Thursday, July 13

  • 9:00-10:00 at the Atlantic Council and online: Guatemala’s choice: What’s at stake ahead of the runoff election? (RSVP required).

Friday, July 14

  • 1:30 on AILA Zoom: High-Stakes Asylum: How Long an Asylum Case Takes and How We Can Do Better (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Tuesday, June 20

  • 11:00-12:30 at the Wilson Center: Voices Behind the News: Promoting Freedom of Expression & Strengthening Independent Media in Central America (RSVP required).
  • 12:30-2:00 at OSF and online: Peru: Democratic Crisis, Human Rights and Impunity (RSVP required).

Wednesday, June 21

Thursday, June 22

  • 3:00-4:30 at CSIS and online: Building the North American Semiconductor Corridor (RSVP required).
  • 5:30-6:30 in Washington and online: Democratic Decline and Authoritarian Drift in Guatemala: Presentation and Comments on the Inclusion of Guatemala in Chapter 4.B of the IACHR Annual Report 2022 (RSVP required).
  • 5:30-7:00 at 1301 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 600 and online: The Current Situation in Colombia: A Conversation with Marco Romero (RSVP required).

Friday, June 23

  • 9:30-11:00 at 1301 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 600 and online: ‘Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading’: Cristosal Reports on One Year Under El Salvador’s State of Exception (RSVP required).
  • 12:00-2:00 at thedialogue.org: Migrant and Refugee Children in the Americas (RSVP required).
  • 1:30-3:30 at USIP: Commemorating Jimmy Carter’s Legacy in the Americas (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events online and in Washington this week

Monday, April 17, 2023

  • 12:00-1:00 at Center for American Progress YouTube: Guns Without Borders: Addressing the flow of U.S. firearms to Mexico and Central America (RSVP required).
  • 4:00-8:00 at Race and Equality Facebook Live: Nicaragua: 5 años de crímenes de lesa humanidad (RSVP required).

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Latin America-related events online and in Washington this week

Monday, April 10

  • 12:00-1:30 at wilsoncenter.org: The Brazil 100 Conference: A Look Into Lula’s First 100 Days (RSVP required).

Tuesday, April 11

  • 10:00-11:30 at thedialogue.org: Critical Minerals in LAC: The ‘S’ in ESG (RSVP required).
  • 3:30-5:00 at Georgetown University and YouTube: Seeking Truth: The Challenges and Achievements of Colombia’s Truth Commission (RSVP required).
  • 6:00-7:30 at George Washington University: Dissent in Nicaragua: A Conversation with Lesther Alemán (RSVP required).

Wednesday, April 12

  • 1:00-5:30 at Georgetown University: Overcoming Challenges to Fight Climate Change in Latin America (RSVP required).

Thursday, April 13

  • 4:00-5:00 at Georgetown University: Can Argentina Achieve Economic Stability and Inclusive Growth? (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events in Washington this week

Monday, April 3, 2023

  • 1:00-2:00 at the Wilson Center: Corruption, Accountability and Democracy in Brazil: Challenges and Solutions (RSVP required).

Thursday, April 6, 2023

  • 11:00-12:30 at George Washington University: Resurgence Of Militarism: Views From The Global South And Implications For The United States (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Monday, March 27, 2023

  • 5:00-6:30 at Georgetown University: The García Luna Case: Dirty Money and the War on Drugs (RSVP required).

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Thursday, March 30, 2023

  • 9:30 at the Atlantic Council and online: 2023: A pivotal moment to celebrate 200 years of US-Chile relations (RSVP required).
  • 3:00-5:00 at Georgetown University: Forty years after the US invasion of Grenada: lessons for the 21st Century (RSVP required).

Friday, March 31, 2023

  • 10:00 at Global Americans Zoom: The Implications of Climate Change for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in the Caribbean (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Monday, March 20, 2023

  • 11:00 at the Atlantic Council and online: Weathering the storms together: Improving US humanitarian efforts (RSVP required).
  • 1:00-5:00 at the Wilson Center and online: Forum on Cyber-Harassment (RSVP required).
  • 4:00-5:30 at wilsoncenter.org: The Ends of Modernization: Nicaragua and the United States in the Cold War Era (RSVP required).

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Friday, March 24, 2023

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Monday, March 13, 2023

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Thursday, March 16, 2023

  • 9:15-10:30 at the Inter-American Dialogue and online: A Conversation with Dante Mossi, Executive President of CABEI (RSVP required).
  • 5:00-6:00 at Witness at the Border online: Biden’s Proposed Asylum Ban: a Disaster for Children and Families (RSVP required).

Latin America-Related Events in Washington and Online This Week

Monday, March 6, 2023

Tuesday, May 7, 2023

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Thursday, May 9, 2023

  • 8:30-5:00 at Johns Hopkins SAIS and online: 5th Annual Forum on Security Challenges in Latin America (RSVP required).
  • 9:30-11:00 at stimson.org: The Biden Administration’s New US Conventional Arms Transfer Policy (RSVP required).
  • 11:00 at migrationpolicy.org: Migration in the Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities for a Changing Region (RSVP required).

Friday, March 10, 2023

  • 2:00-3:30 at American University: Book Talk: The Foreign Policy of The Latin American States – Approaches, Methodologies and Cases (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events in Washington and online this week

Monday, February 27, 2023

  • 1:00-1:45 at atlanticcouncil.org: Climate-proofing the Caribbean: A partnership for the future (RSVP required).
  • 2:00 at Provea Zoom: Los laberintos de la Verdad (RSVP required).
  • 4:00-5:00 at Georgetown University: Democracies Need Robust Evidence: The Mexican Evaluation System (RSVP required).

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Thursday, March 2, 2023

  • 9:00-10:45 at the Inter-American Dialogue and at thedialogue.org: Central America Forward: A Conversation with Emily Mendrala (RSVP required).

Friday, March 3, 2023

  • 1:45-3:00 at wilsoncenter.org: Strengthening U.S. Cooperation on Marine Protection in Latin America (RSVP required).

Latin America-Related Events Online and in Washington this Week

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

  • 10:00-11:00 at the Wilson Center and wilsoncenter.org: Putting Peru Back Together (RSVP required).
  • 2:00-4:10 at stimson.org: Forum on the Arms Trade Annual Conference (RSVP required).
  • 3:00-4:30 at INCAE Zoom: Experiencias exitosas en gobierno digital y auditoría social (RSVP required).
  • 6:00-7:30 at csis.org: Turning up the Heat on Geothermal Energy in Latin America (RSVP required).

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

  • 9:00-10:30 at wilsoncenter.org: Greening BRI Governance in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Beyond (RSVP required).
  • 9:30-11:30 at csis.org: Promise and Peril: Migration Management Technologies in West Africa and Central America (RSVP required).
  • 11:00-12:30 at FIU Washington DC and Zoom: A Look Inside Venezuela with Julio Borges and Paola de Alemán (RSVP required).
  • 12:30-2:00 at wola.org: Reckoning with Indigenous and Afro Descendant Truth: the Ethnic Chapter of Colombia’s Truth Commission Report Webinar (RSVP required).
  • 6:00-7:30 at George Washington University: Assessing the U.S. – Mexico Security Cooperation (RSVP required).

Thursday, February 23, 2023

  • 12:00 at globalinitiative.net: Gobernanza punitiva y derechos humanos en Centroamérica (RSVP required).
  • 4:00-5:00 at Georgetown University: Peaceful Borders and Illicit Transnational Flows: The Case of the Americas (RSVP required).
  • 5:00-7:00 at George Washington University: A Conversation with Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho (RSVP required).

Saturday, February 25, 2023

  • 5:00-7:00 at Busboys and Poets 14th Street: Indigenous Cinematic Resistance in the Amazon (RSVP required).

Latin America-related events online and in Washington this week

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

  • 10:00-11:00 at Georgetown University Zoom: A Conversation with Robert W. Thomas, Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo (RSVP required).
  • 3:00-4:00 at the Wilson Center: Reflections on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Visit to Washington (RSVP required).

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Thursday, February 16, 2023

  • 1:00-2:00 at the Wilson Center: A Conversation with Inter-American Development Bank President Ilan Goldfajn (RSVP required).
  • 5:00-6:15 at Witness at the Border mobilize.us: Journey for Justice: Reporting Back (RSVP required).

Friday, February 17, 2023

  • 12:00-1:30 at George Washington University: Making Sense of Immigration Data: A Conversation With TRAC (RSVP required).
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