Published by WOLA on January 24, 2025.
Catalogues “dramatic shifts in U.S. policy that will reverberate across the region.”
Trump’s Executive Orders and Latin America: Key Things to Know
Tag: Human Rights
Testimony of Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight, Washington Office on Latin America, Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Hearing: “Remain in Mexico”
Published by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on January 16, 2025
Testimony opposing reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, finding that it violated human rights, aided organized crime, complicated relations with Mexico, and was not much of a deterrent. (Link at hsgac.senate.gov)
Report on Internal Investigations and Employee Accountability FY2023
Published by Customs and Border Protection on October 24, 2024.
Provides statistics about CBP’s internal investigations of alleged wrongdoing and subsequent disciplinary processes. (Link at cbp.gov)
Migration: Five Policies that Protect Human Rights and Human Dignity
Published by WOLA on October 3, 2024.
A brief set of principles and guidelines for the next U.S. administration’s border and migration policies.
Trapped in Texas: How Federal – and Now State – Immigration Enforcement Traps People Trying to Escape Texas’ Abortion Ban
Published by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas on September 18, 2024.
Finds that immigration enforcement severely limits undocumented people’s access to abortions in Texas.
Soldiers Confronting Migrants: Texas’s Dangerous Precedent
Published by WOLA on September 13, 2024.
Calls for federal investigation into Texas National Guard use of force against migrants on the borderline.
Handcuffed, Pushed, and Afraid: immigrant children share terrifying experiences while in Border Patrol custody
Published by the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project on September 12, 2024.
Interviews with children in Border Patrol custody find a surprisingly high proportion suffering verbal or physical abuse.
Fewer Migrants, Greater Danger: The Impact of 2024’s Crackdowns
Published by WOLA on August 29, 2024.
Explains twelve trends marking U.S.-bound migration and the U.S.-Mexico border during the summer of 2024.
“Don’t Tell Me About Your Fear”
Documents U.S. border officials executing a new asylum restriction in such a way that even people who badly need protection are refused a hearing.
Six-Week Report: Implementation of the Biden Administration’s June 2024 “Securing the Border” Asylum Ban
Documents people who have faced “insurmountable due process violations” after trying to seek asylum at the border after the Biden administration’s June 2024 asylum ban went into effect.
Migrants in Colombia: Between government absence and criminal control
Published by WOLA on June 20, 2024.
A report on migration, security, U.S. policy, and protection needs, based on fieldwork along Colombia’s borders with Ecuador and Panama.
“No Human Being Should Be Held Here”: The Mistreatment of LGBTQ and HIV-Positive People in Federal Immigration Jails
Documents systemic abuse against LGBTQ and HIV-positive individuals in ICE and CBP custody.
Report to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Regarding Disappearances of Migrants and Asylum Seekers in the United States
Published by several organizations, and hosted by Human Rights First, on June 14, 2024.
A report to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances alleges that U.S. authorities’ treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in custody at the border is tantamount to enforced disappearances.
Southwest Border: CBP Could Take Additional Steps to Strengthen Its Response to Incidents Involving Its Personnel
Published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on May 13, 2024.
Finds that CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility has made significant progress implementing new investigative standards, but it could strengthen investigator independence from the agency
Kidnapping of Migrants and Asylum Seekers at the Texas-Tamaulipas Border Reaches Intolerable Levels
Published by WOLA on April 4, 2024.
An epidemic of migrant kidnappings and rapes in Tamaulipas, Mexico demands that CBP dramatically improve protection-seeking migrants’ access to ports of entry.
Ohio, We Have A Problem: Border Patrol and Local Law Enforcement’s Patterns and Tactics of Abuse in Ohio’s Immigration Enforcement
Local law enforcement agencies like the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) often work in concert with USBP agents in constructing a dragnet that serves as a force multiplier for USBP to funnel immigrants—most of whom have no criminal history—into deportation proceedings.
La Militarización del Instituto Nacional de Migración
Publicado por la Universidad Ibero el 14 de marzo de 2024.
Informe sobre las implicaciones de la militarización del INM en las violaciones a derechos humanos de las personas migrantes.
El impacto del desplazamiento forzado en la movilidad humana
Publicado por ACNUR y varias organizaciones el 6 de marzo de 2024.
Surveys of migrants in Mexico find that about 66% of respondents feared for their life, security, or freedom if returned to their country of origin, with 54% facing direct threats. (Link at mexico.un.org)
Jenny L. Flores, et al. v. Merrick Garland, et al. Exhibit Index to Plaintiffs Motion to Enforce re Open-Air Detention Sites
Presents a troubling picture of the conditions faced by migrants, including children and families, detained between the primary and secondary barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Will the Families Separated by Trump Ever Be Reunited?
Published by New York on February 27, 2024.
“The Trump administration forcibly separated 5,000 families at the border. Five years later, the work of reunifying them is painfully incomplete.”
The Human Toll of Greg Abbott’s War at the Border
Published by Rolling Stone on February 25, 2024.
“A dispatch from Eagle Pass, where the Texas governor has amped up the cruelty toward migrants to boost his political profile.”
When migrant children disappear, many cases remain unsolved
Published by the Center for Public Integrity on February 23, 2024.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement handled 2,724 cases of unaccompanied migrant minors who went missing in the United States in 2022.
From Hope to Heartbreak: The Disturbing Reality of Border Patrol’s Confiscation of Migrants’ Belongings
Details U.S. immigration agencies’ confiscation of asylum seekers’ belongings on “hundreds” of documented occasions.
U.S. Border and Asylum Policies Harm Black Asylum Seekers
Published by Human Rights First on February 12, 2024.
Documents prolonged waits, discrimination, poor healthcare access, targeted violence, and other harms suffered by Black asylum seekers.
Kino Border Initiative Congressional Year-End Report
Published by the Kino Border Initiative in late January, 2024.
The Nogales-based shelter and human rights defense organization offers a compendium of alleged abuses and rights violations from its regular reports to Congress.