Adaptation. Mitigation. Justice.
A monthslong investigation revealed that California-based Oportun Inc., founded to help Latino immigrants build credit, routinely uses lawsuits to intimidate a vulnerable population into keeping up with high-interest loan payments—even amid COVID-19. Kiah Collier, Ren Larson, & Perla Trevizo HOUSTON—On an afternoon in mid-June, Analleli Solis was walking home from […]
Trump supporters funded a private border wall on the banks of the Rio Grande, helping the builder secure $1.7 billion in federal contracts. But experts say the wall is already critically failing. Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo Tommy Fisher billed his new privately funded border wall as the future of […]
“My bill to cancel rent and mortgages isn’t just necessary,” says Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, “it’s popular.” Jessica Corbett New polling from the think tank Data for Progress shows that a majority of Americans across the political spectrum support canceling rent payments and suspending home mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic—results […]
Greg Harman Tracking devices, night vision and motion detectors, micro drones (and “drone killers”) … a sharpshooter competition. Amid a feast of military gear on sale at Border Security 2020 in San Antonio last week were talks by current and former US immigration officials, who spoke in defense of this […]
The Esto’k Gna tribe is reviving ancestral villages along the length of the Rio Grande that stand squarely in the pathway of Trump’s proposed border wall expansion. “We’ve been here thousands of years,” said Isidro Leal, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, or Esto’k Gna, as he surveyed […]
Greg Harman BROWNSVILLE, Texas—As the number of asylum seekers crowded in a Matamoros tent camp swells across the river from Brownsville, ordinary people from a range of community aid and migrant solidarity organizations are calling for assistance. Last weekend, Deceleration met members of Team Brownsville, Angry Tias and Abuelas of […]
“Canada invades. Invades on behalf of industry. Invades during ceremony. Canada tears us from our land.” — Wetʼsuwetʼen Resistance Camp Communication Greg Harman The Wet’suwet’en peoples’s struggle against powerful fossil fuel interests and escalating violence of Canada’s militarized police forces is putting massive pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Over […]
Since November 2019, under a new program called Asylum Cooperative Agreement, the U.S. government has shipped 536 asylum-seekers to Honduras and El Salvador in what witnesses call “boxcars in the sky.” Marisol Cortez In our Weekly Witness series, we share some of the most significant messages posted by volunteers to […]
Monarch mural in Mexico. Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region. Raúl Hernández Romero received death threats before his body was found, family says. Julia Conley Human rights defenders on Monday demanded a full investigation into the death of a second conservation activist in Michoacan state, Mexico, after […]
As tensions around Matamoros camps rise, witnesses observe ominous signs that ‘Remain in Mexico’ may soon be supplanted by dangerous new policies of shipping asylum-seekers by plane to unfamiliar countries. Marisol Cortez In our Weekly Witness series, we share some of the most significant messages posted by volunteers to the […]
In the absence of an effective response by Brazil’s right-wing government to an oil disaster five months ago, civil society is rising to the challenge. Marina Martinez A major oil spill, coming from a mysterious source in the South Atlantic Ocean, has been contaminating Brazil’s coastline since Aug. 30, 2019. […]
Witnesses report two disturbing new trends: parents who send children over the border unaccompanied to escape the “Remain in Mexico” tent camps, and asylum-seekers deported to unsafe third countries. Marisol Cortez In our Weekly Witness series, we share some of the most significant messages posted by volunteers to the public […]