Dear John,

For the past five weeks, I’ve been closely tracking the historic harm being done by the new administration’s border and immigration policies—a series of outrages that includes an illegal shutdown of all asylum access, escalating  mass deportations, the stranding of thousands of asylum seekers in Mexico, and the cruel warehousing, in Panama, Costa Rica, and elsewhere, of other nations’ asylum seekers. In my regular border updates, I’ve also been monitoring the administration’s use of the Guantanamo base to detain migrants, few of whom committed serious crimes. After release into Venezuela, many say they suffered subhuman conditions while in custody. 

The border has become quiet, where Border Patrol agents and soldiers now outnumber migrants. According to officials’ own data, the border is seeing 0.01 migrant apprehensions per agent/soldier per day. Behind the numbers, though, are real human lives impacted by these extreme policies. To illustrate that, I spoke on Monday with three staff members from the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), a frontline organization providing humanitarian aid and advocacy in Nogales, Sonora. You can hear their vivid testimony in the latest episode of our podcast Latin America Today.

Karen Hernández, KBI’s advocacy coordinator; Bernie Eguia, coordinator of psychosocial support; and Diana Fajardo, a psychologist working with recently deported individuals, shared firsthand accounts of the harm that the new U.S. administration is inflicting. Asylum seekers from Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, and beyond have been left with few options, stranded without resources in territories dominated by organized crime. Meanwhile, as Mexico braces for the impact of “mass deportation,” service providers cite an alarming lack of transparency and collaboration. 

The situation is dire, but Karen, Bernie, and Diana remind us that migrants are not passive victims. They emphasized the resilience of the people they work with, and the need to preserve hope at this extremely dark moment. In the face of these challenges, organizations like KBI are offering essential humanitarian assistance, legal guidance, and mental health care. But as they recognize, they can only offer “band-aids” in Nogales: the real solution is deep reform. While that remains far off right now, WOLA is laying the groundwork by ensuring that the public, policymakers, and litigators have the best possible real-time information about what is happening, what the human impact is, and what a rights-respecting, more effective approach could look like.

Sincerely,

Adam Isacson

Director for Defense Oversight

For human rights activists across Latin America right now, the stakes are high. Violence around elections is on the rise, as are threats against those who speak in favor of justice and accountability.

Your support of WOLA creates space to amplify the voices of those who put their life on the line to champion human rights; from Caracas, to San Salvador, and everywhere in between.

"I don’t think democracy as such is in the Trump agenda anywhere with regard to Venezuela. I think we are very likely going to be seeing tension between the State Department and the White House, and that tension will remain unresolved. What I see right now is a strong connection between the Venezuela opposition and the State Department under Marco Rubio.”

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval

President

– Miami Herald, Trump’s views on Russia put Rubio’s long-held opposition to authoritarian leaders to the test

"If the question is how to effectively weaken, combat, and dismantle criminal networks in Mexico, then the starting point needs to be addressing them for what they are. Mexican criminal groups are very powerful and cause horrific levels of violence and suffering, but they are not pursuing the type of political ends that a terrorist organization pursues.”

Stephanie Brewer

Director for Mexico

– InSight Crime, What You Need to Know About the Criminal Groups the US Just Labeled ‘Terrorists’

"A lot of the funding that has been provided to Latin America, in recent years, is looking at how you address the factors that drive people from their homes, and cutting that off goes against the US interest of addressing migration and supporting countries as they receive their own citizens."

Maureen Meyer

Vice President for Programs

– The World, USAID freeze could lead to instability in Latin America and encourage migration

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