As the U.S. and Mexico continue to impose barriers on asylum seekers, this week WOLA is particularly proud to have partnered with media outlet Animal Político and non-governmental organization IMUMI to present an investigative multimedia project that exposes the deportation of child and adolescent migrants from Mexico in 2022, despite landmark legal reforms created specifically to protect them. As well as several articles revealing crucial data, the Niñez Migrante, Promesas de Papel project includes a 20 minute documentary, illustrated case studies as well as graphs and a summary in English and Spanish.

Also this week, as the outrage continues over the death of 40 migrants following the fire at a migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, WOLA’s president Carolina Jiménez Sandoval spoke to Venezuelan news site El Nacional about the detrimental migration policies implemented by the US and Mexican governments.

With Covid restrictions increasingly behind us, WOLA is looking forward to hosting more in-person events. On April 19, we hope you will join us either in-person or virtually for a panel discussion with leading human rights activists on "Women Defending Peace in Colombia: A gendered environmental and rural perspective".

All this and more in this week’s WOLA Weekly.

Best,

Stephanie Brewer

Director for Mexico 

In April 2022, WOLA launched its one-of-a-kind Border Oversight Database, which documents hundreds of reports of human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Ana María Méndez Dardón

Director for Central America

“The arbitrary blocking of candidates because they represent a danger to the [political] establishment is serious,” Ana María Méndez Dardón, the Central America Director for the Washington Office on Latin America, told Al Jazeera. “It has also brought little credibility to the institutions that have to ensure the integrity of the [electoral] process.”

– Al Jazeera, Guatemala elections: Campaigning begins amid public distrust

“On the one hand, we have the United States, which is the destination for most, that has closed the door to the right to seek asylum and has taken action against people from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba. On the other hand, there is Mexico, that agrees to implementing the wall that Donald Trump dreamed of.”

– El Nacional, Venezolanos en México: políticas migratorias inhumanas y el temor de que se repita la tragedia

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval

Director for Central America

At WOLA, internships are critical to arming future generations of advocates with the necessary skills to champion human rights and social justice work in their careers. Please consider contributing to WOLA’s internship program today!

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