I mean to post a link or some other notice to this site whenever I publish something elsewhere. But it has been such a fertile time at work lately, things have gotten away from me and I’ve neglected this space.

In order to catch up a bit, here’s everything I’ve been up to since September 11.

Publications

• At wola.org, an ambitious tracker of where President Trump’s border security proposals are in Congress. With sections about the “wall,” the Border Patrol increase, the ICE deportation force increase, and DACA (which isn’t border security but may be extended in exchange for border spending). Now I have to keep this up to date.
• At wola.org, “How to Protect DACA While Actually Securing the Border.” The premise: if Trump is demanding more non-wall border security spending as the price of saving DACA, here are some border priorities we can all agree on. Ports of entry, some technology, reversing Border Patrol attrition, and others.
• At wola.org, “The Most Important Trends in Colombia’s Drug Policy, Explained.” An adaptation of a memo I prepared for Senate staff ahead of an atrocious September 12 hearing of that body’s International Narcotics Caucus.
• At Colombia’s El Espectador, “No se va a descertificar a Colombia.” Editorializing on the Trump administration’s September 13 memo saying that the White House “seriously considered” de-certifying Colombia as an ally in the drug war.
• At Colombia’s El Tiempo, “Amenaza de Trump de descertificar a Colombia es ‘un irrespeto’.” A couple of paragraphs from me in an analysis of the White House memo.

Podcast

• “Death Squads in El Salvador’s Police,” with Hector Silva of Revista Factum and José Luis Sanz of El Faro.

Video

• • At Colombia’s Semana: “¿Seguirá siendo la lucha contra las drogas una ‘bicicleta estática’?” Talking about the White House’s certification memo and Colombia.

• • At Voice of America’s Foro Interamericano: talking about several regional issues.

Another resource

• Here’s a spreadsheet of aid to Central America, Colombia, and Mexico for 2016, 2017, and 2018 as proposed by the White House, as passed by the House, and as passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee. This will appear in a WOLA commentary hopefully on Monday.

Media Quotes

• “Border security is tougher than ever, DHS report finds,” The Washington Post
• “Trump delivers shock rebuke to Colombia over cocaine surge,” Associated Press
• “Here’s how drugs are getting smuggled from South America to the US,” Business Insider (also this one)
• “Immigrant apprehensions continue to climb on Southern border,” The San Antonio Express-News
• “‘Las palabras de Trump a Colombia son una humillación’, analista de Oficina para Asuntos LA,” Caracol Radio (Colombia)