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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 8:04 pm

Results for border law enforcement

4 results found

Author: Isacson, Adam

Title: An Uneasy Coexistence: Security and Migration Along the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Border

Summary: In September 2011, three WOLA staff members — Senior Associate Adam Isacson, Senior Fellow George Withers, and Program Assistant Joe Bateman — paid a five-day visit to El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Isacson returned to El Paso for three days in October. We found two cities that, while separated only by a narrow river, are rapidly growing further apart. Ciudad Juárez is undergoing wrenching change as dysfunctional state institutions confront powerful, hyper-violent criminal groups. El Paso has witnessed an unprecedented buildup of the U.S. government’s security and law enforcement apparatus. The results have been mixed. Violence has not spilled over into El Paso, in part because the drug traffickers do not want it to do so. The flow of migrants from Mexico into the El Paso region has nearly ground to a halt due to greatly increased U.S. security-force presence, the poor U.S. economy, and the danger that organized-crime groups pose for migrants on the Mexican side of the border. The flow of drugs, meanwhile, continues at or near the same level as always. What we saw in El Paso raised concerns about U.S. policy. Present levels of budgets and personnel may not be sustainable. Nor may they be desirable until a series of reforms are implemented. These include human rights training for law enforcement, improved intelligence coordination, reduced military involvement, stronger accountability mechanisms, increased anticorruption measures, and greater attention to ports of entry. They also include a much sharper distinction between violent threats like organized crime or terrorism, and non-violent social problems like unregulated migration. Any reforms, however, need to be guided by a coherent policy, and for the moment the U.S. government still lacks a comprehensive border security strategy. In El Paso, WOLA found that this lack of clarity amid a security buildup has hit the migrant population especially hard.

Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2011. 19p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2013 at: http://www.wola.org/files/111219_uneasy_coexistence.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.wola.org/files/111219_uneasy_coexistence.pdf

Shelf Number: 127636

Keywords:
Border Law Enforcement
Border Security (U.S.)
Drug Trafficking
Drug Violence
Illegal Immigrants
Immigration

Author: Isacson, Adam

Title: Mexico's Other Border: Security, Migration, and the Humanitarian Crisis at the Line with Central America

Summary: Mexico's Other Border: Security, Migration, and the Humanitarian Crisis at the Line with Central America, which examines migration patterns, human trafficking and smuggling, security, and U.S. and Mexican policy at Mexico's southern border. With dozens of images, maps, statistics, and testimonies, the report not only explains what Mexico's "other border" looks like, it shows very clearly that the real humanitarian emergency is not just in shelters and detention facilities in south Texas - it runs along the entire migration route to the United States. Mexico's Other Border also outlines what is at stake for policymakers under pressure to "do something" about the current surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Contrary to what some in Washington allege, lax U.S. border security is not to blame for this surge. (In fact, the number of security personnel on the U.S.-Mexico border has doubled in the past eight years.) WOLA found that Mexican authorities and migrant shelters alike have seen a sharp rise in migration from Central America, including the influx of families and unaccompanied children that authorities are now struggling to manage in south Texas and elsewhere on the U.S.-Mexico border. The report documents a modest but accelerating buildup of U.S.-funded security forces and infrastructure on both sides of the Mexico-Guatemala border. In a series of recommendations, authors Adam Isacson, Maureen Meyer, and Gabriela Morales call for an approach that can ease the humanitarian crisis facing Central American migrants in transit, without the risks of a large deployment of undertrained, uncoordinated, and unaccountable military, police, intelligence, and migration forces

Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2014. 43p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2014 at: http://www.wola.org/publications/mexicos_other_border

Year: 2014

Country: Central America

URL: http://www.wola.org/publications/mexicos_other_border

Shelf Number: 133260

Keywords:
Border Law Enforcement
Border Security (U.S.)
Drug Trafficking
Human Trafficking
Illegal Immigrants
Immigration
Smuggling

Author: European Commission. Directorate-General for Home Affairs

Title: Technical Study on Smart Borders: Final Report

Summary: The "Smart Borders Package" was proposed by the Commission in February 2013. It follows the European Commission (EC) Communication of February 2008 suggesting the establishment of an Entry/Exit System (EES) and a Registered Traveller Programme (RTP). The Smart Borders Package is constituted of three legislative proposals. It aims to improve the management of the external borders of the Schengen Member States (MS), fight against irregular immigration and provide information on overstayers, as well as facilitate border crossings for pre-vetted frequent third country national (TCN) travellers. During the first examination of the Smart Borders Package, which was completed in February 2014, the Council and the European Parliament (EP) voiced technical, operational and cost concerns, mainly related to the overall feasibility of the proposed new systems and of some of their features. Concerns related especially to the impact on the actual border control process, the RTP token, the data retention period in the EES, the choice of biometric identifiers, the extent to which national Entry/Exit Systems could be integrated and/or reused, the need for enhanced synergies and/or interoperability with existing border control systems, and the possibility for law enforcement authorities to access the EES. In order to further assess the technical, organisational and financial impacts of the various possible ways to address these issues, the Commission subsequently initiated - with the support of both co-legislators - a proof of concept exercise aimed at identifying options for implementing the Smart Borders package. This exercise consists of two stages: 1. A Commission-led Technical Study (this report) aimed at identifying and assessing the most suitable and promising options and solutions. Based on this Study, the options and solutions to be tested through a pilot project should be identified by the end of 2014. 2. A Pilot project to be entrusted to the Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT Systems in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), aimed at verifying the feasibility of the options identified in the Technical Study and validating the selected concepts for both automated and manual border controls. This Study addressed a series of questions raised in 20 Thematic Files (TFs) that were jointly agreed between the EC's Directorate General for Home Affairs (DG HOME), the MS and EP representatives in February 2014. These questions focused on six domains: 1. Statistics 2. Biometrics 3. Border control processes 4. Data 5. Architecture 6. Costs. The Study's methodological approach was primarily based on stakeholders' consultations through workshops, phone interviews and feedback from MS on the draft deliverables. The stakeholders consulted included MS, the EP, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), DG HOME, DG Justice (DG JUST), DG Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), eu-LISA, Frontex and representatives from industry. The Study also built upon extensive desk research, literature review and various on-site visits. In addition, a specific data collection survey was carried out at the external borders of the Schengen Area by the MS at the end of May 2014. This survey allowed collecting up-to-date quantitative data concerning border crossings, including their number and type (air, land and sea), and the categories of travellers (i.e. EU/EEA/CH - abbreviated as EU-citizens, third country nationals either visa-exempt (TCNVE) or visa holders (TCNVH)).

Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2014. 416p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2014 at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/smart-borders/docs/smart_borders_technical_study_en.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: Europe

URL: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/smart-borders/docs/smart_borders_technical_study_en.pdf

Shelf Number: 133834

Keywords:
Border Control
Border Law Enforcement
Border Security (Europe)
Illegal Immigrants
Illegal Immigration
Immigration Policy

Author: Rosenblum, Marc R.

Title: Trends in Unaccompanied Child and Family Migration from Central America

Summary: After reaching record high levels during the spring and summer of 2014, the flow of Central American unaccompanied children (UACs) and families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border declined sharply. Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show a resurgence in the numbers of child migrants and families from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras arriving in the United States in the summer and fall of 2015. What caused the sharp drop in Central American child and family migration flows in summer 2014, and why have the numbers begun to climb once again? Undoubtedly, numerous factors contributed to the downturn. The United States intensified its enforcement efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border, detained large numbers of Central American women and children, targeted more resources to investigate and prosecute migrant smugglers, and worked with the Northern Triangle countries on a public information campaign to discourage outflows. Perhaps most importantly, Mexico significantly stepped up its enforcement, with the advent of the Southern Border Program. Guatemala and Honduras also took additional steps to secure their common borders and Guatemala's border with Mexico; and the three Northern Triangle countries announced a large-scale development strategy known as the Plan for the Alliance for Prosperity. While the drop in child migration and family arrivals in 2014 led some to believe the regional migration crisis had been resolved, rising flows in 2015 offer a reminder that humanitarian and migration pressures in the Northern Triangle remain a major concern, and that smuggling networks play a significant role. This fact sheet examines influencing factors on the recent trends in unaccompanied child and family arrivals from Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as Mexico's role in enforcement.

Details: Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2016. 11p.

Source: Internet Resource: Fact Sheet: Accessed February 8, 2016 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/trends-unaccompanied-child-and-family-migration-central-america

Year: 2016

Country: Central America

URL: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/trends-unaccompanied-child-and-family-migration-central-america

Shelf Number: 137790

Keywords:
Border Law Enforcement
Border Security
Human Smuggling
Human Trafficking
Illegal Immigration
Unaccompanied Children