Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
09/20/2017 Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California’s attorney general plans to file a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging President Donald Trump’s plan to construct a wall along the border with Mexico, the state AG’s office said, adding to the obstacles facing a key Trump campaign promise.
Trump has insisted Mexico would pay for building the wall, which experts said could cost about $22 billion and take more than three years to complete.
9/18/2017 The Washington Post
Sneaking across the U.S. border from Mexico is tougher than ever before, and U.S. agents are catching or stopping the majority of those who attempt to do so, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security.
The report, published last week by the agency’s Office of Immigration Statistics, estimates that 55 to 85 percent of attempted illegal border crossings are unsuccessful, up from 35 to 70 percent a decade ago. In one telling sign of the difficulty, the number of illegal migrants and deportees who make repeated attempts to get in has also fallen dramatically, because so many would-be migrants are giving up.
09/14/2017 New York Times
SAN DIEGO — Three advocacy groups sued the federal government Thursday to block construction of a border wall with Mexico, alleging that that Trump administration overstepped its authority by waiving environmental reviews and other laws.
The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund seek to prevent construction of wall prototypes in San Diego before it begins and halt plans for replacement barriers in San Diego and Calexico, California.
09/14/2017 New York Times
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday any agreement on protections for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children must be tied to border security and disputed Democratic congressional leaders who said they had reached a deal on the issue.
“No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote,” Trump wrote in one of a series of posts on Twitter, adding that “the Wall… will continue to be built.”
09/12/2017 New York Times
SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration on Tuesday waived environmental laws and other reviews to replace a small stretch of border wall in Calexico, California, the second time it has exercised that authority in less than two months.
Critics said the move was an overreach and a threat to the environment.
The waiver extends 3 miles (5 kilometers) west from the downtown border crossing in the city of 40,000 people, according to a notice in the Federal Register.
9/8/2017 New York Times
(New York Times) – In Tecate, Mexico, a little boy with dark hair and curious eyes peers carefully over the barrier wall that borders San Diego County. Rising up almost 70 feet, his hands seemingly grip the barrier tightly, as if he were holding onto his mother’s body.
The French artist JR pasted that plaintive image on Wednesday, his first installation in Mexico. The piece, based on his photo of a 1-year-old who lives with his mother and grandparents in Tecate, is fully viewable only from the American side of the divide.
09/06/2017 The Washington Post
President Trump’s decision to wind down legal protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children will affect hundreds of thousands of people.
About 788,000 applicants to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have been approved for two-year work permits since DACA began in the summer of 2012, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
