New Study Separates Rhetoric from Reality on Security and Migration Along the Border

Report finds massive spending, limited security impact, and growing humanitarian crisis

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the Washington Office on Latin America:

What:  Press Conference to Release the Washington Office on Latin America's New Report, "Beyond the Border Buildup: Security and Migrants along the U.S.-Mexico Border."

When:  Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 9:30 a.m.

Where: Lisagor Room, The National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor.

RSVP to Kristel Mucino at [email protected].

As of 12:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 18, advance copies will be available at http://www.wola.org/news/new_study_separates_rhetoric_from_reality_on_security_drugs_and_migration_along_the_border.
"Beyond the Border Buildup" is embargoed until 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 19.

Speakers: The report's principal co-authors: Adam Isacson, WOLA's senior regional security policy expert, and Maureen Meyer, WOLA's senior Mexico expert.

"Beyond the Border Buildup" is the product of a year-long study of the current security situation on the U.S.-Mexico border and the impact of both countries' security policies. After extensive research, WOLA found that violence in Mexico isn't spilling into the United States and that migrant crossings have decreased sharply. These facts contradict the call to escalate the past ten years' massive buildup of U.S. border security forces, including military forces.

The report also finds that migrants who do attempt to enter the United States today face unprecedented threats: kidnapping, abuse, and extortion on the Mexican side of the border, and higher risks of death by dehydration in U.S. deserts. The result is an urgent humanitarian crisis.

The border security buildup has resulted in a confusing tangle of agencies whose mission is undermined by the lack of a clear strategy. The WOLA study also finds that despite the dramatic increase in security forces, more drugs are crossing than ever before.

"Beyond the Border Buildup" calls for changes to the border-security strategy in order to better address reality. These recommendations include putting the brakes on the uncoordinated security buildup of the last decade and undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of what is and is not working. The report recommends common-sense border reforms that more effectively focus on the risks along the border today and that protect migrants.

The study was done in collaboration with Tijuana's School of the Northern Border (Colegio de la Frontera Norte, COLEF).

Founded in 1974, the Washington Office on Latin America is the leading independent source of information and analysis on developments in Latin America.
www.wola.org

SOURCE Washington Office on Latin America