Welcome to LAWG’s Migration News Brief, a compilation of recent top articles and reports related to issues of U.S. immigration and enforcement policy and migration from Central America and Mexico.
US Enforcement
Aumenta el número de migrantes que mueren en el Valle del Río Grande
Sergio Morales Rodas, Prensa Libre, 15 de noviembre de 2023
“Oficiales de la Patrulla Fronteriza de EE. UU. (BP, en inglés) confirmaron en una gira de trabajo que Prensa Libre hizo por esa región, que los decesos se han incrementado en los últimos dos años, y aunque no se atreven a dar una hipótesis del por qué, los números oficiales de detenciones confirman que hay un incremento de la migración irregular”.
Migration numbers down across U.S.-Mexico border, but not in Tucson
Emily Bregel, Tucson, November 15, 2023
“As Mexican families continued to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona in large numbers, Tucson was again the busiest of Border Patrol’s nine sectors in October, according to new federal data released Tuesday. Border agents in the Tucson sector encountered more than 55,000 people between ports of entry last month, compared with 51,0000 in September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show.”
Texas legislators approve bill allowing police to arrest people who cross the border illegally
Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune, November 14, 2023
“The Texas House of Representatives approved immigration bills Tuesday that would appropriate more than $1.5 billion for additional border barriers and make illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border a state crime.”
U.S. Congress Must Not Gut the Right to Asylum at a Time of Historic Need
Adam Isacson and Ana Lucia Verduzco, Washington Office on Latin America, November 14, 2023
“The U.S. Congress is currently considering the 2024 federal budget, plus a supplemental budget request for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and the U.S.-Mexico border. In exchange for approval—especially for the $106 billion supplemental request—legislators from the Republican Party, which controls the House of Representatives and 49 of 100 Senate seats, are demanding changes to border and migration policy, including a series of measures that would severely curtail the right to seek asylum in the United States”.
Trouble ’round the bend
Myah Ward, Lauren Egan and Benjamin Johansen, Politico, November 9, 2023
“Anxiety levels have been high since we reported last week that, to win GOP votes on the spending package, the administration would be open to potential changes that would deny more migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum. Now in a letter sent to the White House today, first obtained by West Wing Playbook, nearly 200 immigration groups and progressive organizations are urging Biden to reject policy and funding proposals that would limit access to asylum and to fulfill his campaign promises to ‘restore the asylum system.’ ”
Green Card Backlog Costs Economy Trillions in Gains, Report Says
Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg Law, November 8, 2023
“The US is missing out on trillions in economic gains thanks to worsening green card backlogs, according to projections from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Roughly 7.6 million people are stuck in queues for lawful permanent residency—the majority of them new potential immigrants to the US who are stuck outside the country. Reducing green card barriers for those new entrants and for workers already in the US on temporary visas would add $3.9 trillion in gains to gross domestic product over 10 years, the BPC estimates in a report released Wednesday.”
Policy Brief: Barriers to Immigrant Visas Driving Migrants to the Southern Border
American Immigration Lawyers Association, November 6, 2023
“AILA provides a policy brief that connects visa delays at the Department of State with pressure on migrants to cross the southern border without authorization. Most of these delays are a result from a lack of resources and insufficient funding, as well as inefficiencies in the agencies’ processing.”
DHS to Supplement H-2B Cap with Nearly 65,000 Additional Visas for FY 2024
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, November 3, 2023
“Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), announced that it expects to make an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, on top of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year. These additional H-2B visas represent the maximum permitted under the September 2023 Fiscal Year 2024 Continuing Resolution.”
Mexican Enforcement
INM rescata a 246 migrante que pernoctaban fuera de Central de Autobuses del Norte
Milenio, 13 de noviembre de 2023
“El Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) rescató a 246 migrantes provenientes de Centroamérica, específicamente de Venezuela y Haití, que se encontraban en áreas públicas de la Ciudad de México”.
Mexico authorities find 123 people trapped in locked trailer
The Guardian, November 9, 2023
“Authorities have found 123 people from Central and South America trapped in a trailer in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, the country’s immigration agency said on Thursday. Officials from the state attorney general’s office found the people in Matehuala, a city on the border of Nuevo Leon, on Wednesday after a local reported hearing cries for help from a locked trailer box.”
Caravan of 3,000 migrants blocks highway in southern Mexico
Édgar H. Clemente, Associated Press, November 8, 2023
“About 3,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti on Wednesday blocked traffic on one of Mexico’s main southern highways to demand transit or exit visas to reach the U.S. border. The caravan of migrants set out on foot from the city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, on Oct. 30, walking north toward the U.S.” Check this video of the situation on the ground.
Root Causes
Mexico
In Sonora, ‘searching mothers’ comb the desert for disappeared loved ones
Emily Bregel, Tucson, November 16, 2023
“Flores is the leader of the Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, the Searching Mothers of Sonora, one of about two dozen mostly women-led collectives across the state seeking missing loved ones. Members of the collectives have lost sons, daughters, husbands, brothers — relatives who didn’t come home one day, or who were seen being taken by force. Many searchers say their disappearance was never or barely investigated.”
Chiapas Fears Organized Crime, and Military Intervention
Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj, Americas Quarterly, November 15, 2023
“Cartels are taking unprecedented control over daily life in Indigenous communities on the Mexico-Guatemala border. Amid increasing violence, many affected communities view the cartels as an existential threat—but also fear the prospect of a militarized international response.”
Inician en Acapulco campaña para tirar basura frente a oficinas de la alcaldesa
Luis Carlos Rodríguez, El Universal, 15 de noviembre de 2023
“Ante la desesperación por tres semanas sin el servicio de recolección de basura que se incrementó por la destrucción y cascajo que dejó el paso del huracán Otis por Acapulco, vecinos de varias colonias iniciaron una campaña donde recomiendan tirar la basura frente a las oficinas de la alcaldesa, Abelina López.
Mexico’s Water Crisis Is Spilling Over Into Politics
Adam Williams, Americas Quarterly, November 14, 2023
“Mexico is running out of drinking water. From the arid and desert regions of the country’s north to sun-baked tropics of the south, water shortages are becoming increasingly common—and the national implications are already being felt in the form of mass protests, economic threats, and increasing attention by the leading candidates in the country’s presidential race.”
Repliegan a manifestantes que bloqueaban laterales de Circuito
Laura Gómez Flores, La Jornada, 13 de noviembre de 2023
“Vecinos de esta colonia y otras aledañas manifestaron que el sobrecupo de migrantes en la casa de acogida, ubicada a unos metros de la estación Misterios, de la línea 5 del Metro, ha detonado condiciones de insalubridad y hasta de inseguridad. Se trata, dijeron, de la segunda manifestación y bloqueo que realizan en menos de dos meses ante “la cerrazón” de las autoridades capitalinas y federales de atender su demanda”.
Celebran suspensión de exportación de armas de EEUU a ciertos países
Stop US Arms to Mexico, 30 de octubre de 2023
“Stop US Arms to Mexico, un proyecto de la organización de derechos humanos Global Exchange, aplaudió el anuncio por parte del Departamento de Comercio de Estados Unidos, el viernes pasado, de una suspensión limitada de nuevas licencias de exportación de armas a algunos países. Al tiempo, esta iniciativa pidió una suspensión más amplia de las exportaciones de armas para reducir la violencia y revisar dichas exportaciones”.
Guatemala
Guatemala prosecutors pursue president-elect and student protesters over campus takeover
Sonia Pérez D., Associated Press, November 16, 2023
“Guatemalan prosecutors said Thursday they will seek to strip President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and several members of his party of their immunity for allegedly making social media posts that encouraged students to take over a public university in 2022. Cultural Heritage prosecutor Ángel Saúl Sánchez announced the move aimed at Arévalo and members of his Seed Movement at a news conference while federal agents executed search warrants and sought to arrest more than 30 student members of the party.”
Desperate Choices in Guatemala
Max Schoening, Human Rights Watch, November 15, 2023
“He had little choice but to try again. Repeated droughts in Guatemala, followed by heavy rains from tropical cyclones, had decimated his crops, depriving his family of their main food source and leaving them hungry for days and weeks on end. So Rafael, who like other migrants described here is identified by a pseudonym for his protection, had taken on thousands of dollars in debt, at 8 percent monthly interest, to hire smugglers for his trip north. This was impossible to repay from Guatemala, where he earned at most 35 quetzals (about US$4.60) per day.”
Orden para liberar a Claudia González llega a juzgado y juez deberá ejecutarla
Alexander Valdéz, Prensa Comunitaria, 15 de noviembre de 2023
“La Sala Primera de Apelaciones envió al Juzgado Décimo Penal el expediente con la orden para liberar a la abogada y exmandataria de la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG), Claudia González, quien cumple más de 70 días en prisión preventiva por un caso que el Ministerio Público (MP) inició en su contra por haber dirigido el proceso de supuesto tráfico de influencias contra la magistrada, Blanca Stalling”.
“Si lo que quieren es recuperar el MP volveremos a las carreteras a manifestar”
Rony Ríos, Prensa Comunitaria, 14 de noviembre de 2023
“Este martes 14 de noviembre, en una nueva sesión en la mesa de diálogo entre los representantes del Ministerio de Gobernación (Mingob) y las autoridades ancestrales, el tercer viceministro de Gobernación, Ronald Yomelfy Portillo Cordón, planteó tres propuestas para liberar el paso frente al Ministerio Público”.
Se tensa diálogo entre autoridades indígenas y Gobernación y surge la advertencia de retomar bloqueos de carreteras
César Pérez Marroquín y Leslie Sánchez, Prensa Libre, 14 de noviembre de 2023
““Si lo que quieren es que salgamos otra vez a las calles, empiecen a trabajar su logística en cómo vamos a tener que ver otra vez las carreteras”, fue la advertencia que Édgar Tuy, síndico de la Municipalidad Indígena de Sololá, dio como respuesta a la propuesta de las autoridades del Ministerio de Gobernación de liberar el paso frente a la sede del Ministerio Público (MP), donde grupos de personas exigen la renuncia de la fiscal general Consuelo Porras”.
‘Coup’ by lawfare: Guatemalan president-elect on attempts to keep him from power
Eyder Peralta, NPR, November 13, 2023
“Bernardo Arévalo walked into NPR’s studios in Washington, D.C., with no security and two aides. It was symbolic of the kind of no-frills, home-spun presidential campaign Guatemala’s president-elect has run. Last summer, he surprised everyone when he won the Guatemalan presidency with over a 20 percentage-point margin in the runoff. Up until that point, the elections had been marked by irregularities. Three popular candidates, including a front-runner in the polls and the most important Indigenous candidate, were disqualified by the electoral commission.”
El Salvador
Asamblea aprobará que Bukele deje la presidencia sin causa justificada para participar en elecciones 2024
Gabriela Villarroel, La Prensa Gráfica, 16 de noviembre de 2023
“La Constitución solo concede la renuncia presidencial en caso de “causa grave debidamente comprobada”. Abogados advierten que la Asamblea Legislativa incurrirá en fraude de ley si aprueba, injustificadamente, esta licencia a Nayib Bukele para participar en las elecciones 2024”.
“Estamos repitiendo las detenciones arbitrarias masivas y la tortura de la guerra”
Nelson Rauda Zablah, El Faro, 16 de noviembre de 2023
“Las investigaciones sobre crímenes de guerra en El Salvador se han estancado, dice David Morales, querellante en varios casos, entre ellos la masacre de El Mozote, la peor masacre de toda la guerra civil, con mil víctimas. Morales, exprocurador de derechos humanos y ahora jefe de justicia transicional en la organización Cristosal, señala la contradicción entre el discurso del presidente Nayib Bukele sobre su búsqueda de la verdad y la realidad del bloqueo de inspecciones judiciales y remoción de jueces”.
¿Qué está pasando con los hábeas corpus en el régimen de excepción en El Salvador?
Javier Urbina, La Prensa Gráfica, 13 de noviembre de 2023
“Un magistrado de la Sala de lo Constitucional confirmó recientemente que existen aproximadamente 8,000 hábeas corpus que están pendientes de resolver en el sistema judicial. Esto, luego que familiares de privados de libertad bajo el régimen de excepción en El Salvador presentaron demandas ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ) por considerar ilegal o arbitraria la detención de su pariente”.
“La migración no se ha detenido”, consideran salvadoreños en EUA
Lissette Mondragón, La Prensa Gráfica, 10 de noviembre de 2023
“Según datos del sitio web de las patrullas fronterizas, septiembre fue el mes con mayor flujo de salvadoreños. Salvadoreños en el exterior afirmaron que, a pesar de que el gobierno salvadoreño afirma que la migración hacia Estados Unidos ha decrecido, esto no es verdad”.
Estados Unidos captura a Crook dos años después de su liberación ilegal por el Gobierno de Bukele
Carlos Martínez, El Faro, 9 de noviembre de 2023
“Autoridades de Estados Unidos capturaron el miércoles 8 de noviembre a Élmer Canales, conocido en el mundo criminal como Crook, uno de los máximos líderes de la Mara Salvatrucha-13 en El Salvador, y uno de los pandilleros que ha negociado pactos con gobiernos y partidos políticos desde al menos 2012, cuando gobernaba el FMLN, hasta la administración del actual de Nayib Bukele”.
Honduras
Honduran Government Push to Control AG Dims Horizon for Future CICIH
Roman Gressier and José Luis Sanz, El Faro, November 14, 2023
“Congressional paralysis over the selection of Honduras’ attorney general has gone from dismal —parties failed to make a pick by the legal deadline of August 31— to worse. The ruling party Libre doubled down by forcing a partisan interim prosecutor, street violence made an appearance, and over the weekend both Libre and an opposition bloc convened parallel demonstrations as they dueled to control the narrative.”
Ampliación de la Amnistía Migratoria en riesgo por crisis en el Congreso Nacional
Breidy Hernández, Criterio.hn, 14 de noviembre de 2023
“Organizaciones de derechos humanos han advertido al Congreso Nacional (CN), sobre una crisis en el incremento del flujo migratorio que se vería detenido en los puntos fronterizos una vez que la amnistía migraría pierda vigencia. La medida que exime a las personas que transitan por Honduras del pago de 246 dólares para entrar al territorio nacional, finaliza el uno de enero de 2024, en ese sentido las organizaciones de derechos humanos instan al Poder Legislativo a realizar una ampliación de la misma”.
Thousands in Honduras march in anti-government protest
Gustavo Palencia, Reuters, November 11, 2023
“Thousands of people took to the streets of the Honduran capital on Saturday in anti-government protests against leftist President Xiomara Castro, angered by attempts to engineer what they say is an unconstitutional power grab. In a demonstration sponsored by opposition parties, protesters in the Central American country accused the Castro government of seeking to transform Honduras by hand picking public officials.”
Honduras Joins the Trend of Punitive Populism
Jennifer Ávila, El Faro, November 10, 2023
“Thus, despite initial actions fulfilling her promise to demilitarize public security, the president soon followed the trend: punitive populism. She then took her first steps toward instituting this style of rule. Gang pressures on the streets manifested in the burning of buses and the murder of taxicab and public transport drivers. Other violence erupted around the country, especially in rural areas, with land conflicts leading to massacres, and an increase in the violent deaths of women.”
Regional
U.S.-Caribbean Cooperation to Stop Firearms Trafficking
U.S. Department of State, November 16, 2023
“The United States and our Caribbean partners jointly prioritize disrupting illicit firearms trafficking, an important aspect of our cooperation to address rising levels of crime and violence in the region. U.S. law enforcement and border security agencies and the Department of State work with Caribbean counterparts and regional institutions to build Caribbean capacity to detect and interdict illegally-trafficked firearms and ammunition, and promote coordination and information sharing between law enforcement and border security agencies.”
Americas: Migrants Pushed to Cross Darién Gap, Abused
Human Rights Watch, November 9, 2023
“Restrictions on movement imposed by governments in the Americas have pushed migrants and asylum seekers to risk their lives crossing the Darién Gap, a swampy jungle at the Colombia-Panama border, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘This Hell Was My Only Option’: Abuses Against Migrants and Asylum Seekers Pushed to Cross the Darién Gap,” is the first in a series of Human Rights Watch reports on migration via the Darién Gap.”
A New Answer for Migrants in Central America: Bus Them North
Zolan Kanno-Youngs and David Bolaños, The New York Times, November 8, 2023
“In October, the Costa Rican government declared a national emergency and formed a plan with Panama to shuttle migrants from its southern border to its northern one. Costa Rican officials say the busing program has removed the encampment, as well as alleviated the strain on border communities and provided people a safer alternative to paying human smugglers.”
Gender and LGBTQ+
Stories from Immigrant Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: The Impact of Work Authorization
Her Justice, November 2023
“Stories from Immigrant Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: The Impact of Work Authorization captures stories and data critical to understanding how the U.S.’s immigration system and civil justice system work today. The report also provides recommendations to federal, state, and city policymakers for how to reform these systems so that the greatest number of immigrant women can obtain and preserve the best possible immigration status through a process that prioritizes their safety and dignity.”
Mexico: Murder suspected in non-binary magistrate Jesús Ociel Baena’s death
Kathryn Armstrong, BBC News, November 14, 2023
“The death of Mexico’s first openly non-binary member of the judiciary, a prominent LGBTQ+ activist, appears to have been murder, officials say. Jesús Ociel Baena was found dead at home next to their partner, Dorian Daniel Nieves, in the central city of Aguascalientes on Monday.”
Exigen justicia a tres años del feminicidio de la niña Fátima
Laura Gómez Flores, La Jornada, 13 de noviembre de 2023
“A más de tres años de distancia, los responsables del feminicidio y secuestro agravado de Fátima Cecilia, no han sido sentenciados, por la interposición de amparos y ahora el diferimiento del inicio del juicio oral, pero “no permitiremos que Gladis Giovana N y Mario Alberto N, queden impunes”, afirmó Sonia López”.
Actions, alerts, resources
Map The Impact
American Immigration Council, November 2023
“Use this interactive map to get comprehensive state and local immigration data. Click your state or county to get started.”
Explainer on SB 4 & SB 3: Texas Legislature Advances Anti-Immigrant Bills
HOPE Border Institute, November 16, 2023
“This week the Texas legislature passed two significant anti-immigrant bills, SB 3 and SB 4. These bills impose a burden of suspicion on families and communities at the border and throughout Texas, give unconstitutional powers to state law enforcement officers and judges to detain and order people removable under strict penalties if the person doesn’t comply, and allocate further funding to the egregious Operation Lone Star and the illegal building of a state border wall. These laws now head to Governor Abbott’s desk for signing.”
*The Migration News Brief is a selection of relevant news articles, all of which do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Latin America Working Group.
P.S. Do you know of someone who might be interested in receiving the Migration News Brief? Tell them to email tdelmoral@lawg.org.
