Programa Frontera Sur News Today

Jason De León’s ambitious ethnography paints human smugglers not as inhuman villains but as individuals navigating an inhuman system.

Central American migrants taking part in caravans that cross Mexico’s territory are often presented as pawns manipulated by NGOs or smuggling gangs. In fact, they’re making an active choice to challenge a violent border system that extends far beyond US soil.

In 2014, Mexico (with financial and logistical support from the Obama administration) launched Programa Frontera Sur, a security enforcement project aimed at stopping Central American migrants from reaching the U.S./Mexico border. Under this program, Mexico dramatically increased arrests and deportations while simultaneously making the migration journey more arduous and deadly. In response to this heightened security, migrants have turned to transnational gangs such as MS-13 who have become incr...

Deterrence is a failed strategy for reducing migration—while driving up the number of migrants who die trying to come to the United States.

How Washington outsources its dirty work.

On March 1, 2020 President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador held a virtual summit to discuss pressing issues key to the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship, among them migration. The leaders agreed to cooperate and develop collaborative mechanisms to stem and manage the flow of irregular migration, particularly from Central America, by addressing the root causes of migration. While Biden’s politics on migration are not overtly anti-immigrant compared to those of his...