Latin America faces economic uncertainty but also unique opportunities. With abundant renewable energy & critical minerals, the region could lead a green transition for sustainable growth—if leaders act now. Read more: https://aulablog.net/2025/09/19/latin-americas-challenges-and-opportunities/

Latin America’s Challenges and Opportunities By Dr. Susana Nudelsman Image of wind mills and solar panels. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons. Latin America is a region of great contrasts that currently faces serious challenges and also great opportunities. At the global level, the current outlook…

A Mexican Indigenous Entrepreneur in New York By Ernesto Castañeda Book review and excerpt from. “Un nahual en el imperio: La lucha de un migrante por los derechos políticos de la diáspora ” by Maurizio Guerrero. Ciudad de México: Grano de Sal. 2025. This book, published by Grano de Sal Press,…

Talk by Mexican Anthropologist and CLALS Research Fellow Federico Besserer. September 17, 2025. American University, Washington, DC.

📣 Join us for "The Big Business of Locking Up Migrants"  Authors Nancy Hiemstra & Deirdre Conlon expose the profit-driven system behind U.S. immigration detention - its costs, failures, and the growing pushback. 👉🏼 Register: https://tinyurl.com/4csb5b96 , or scan QR code on flyer!

📣 Join us for "Empanadas, Pupusas, and Greens on the Side: Language and Latinidad in the Nation's Capital" with AU's Amelia Tseng (WLC & CLALS)! 🌎 Explore how Latinx communities shape DC's cultural and linguistic landscape through stories of migration, identity, and belonging.

Classroom “safe spaces” are more complex than they appear. Co-ethnic dynamics, language, and hidden hierarchies shape learning. Read more here: https://aulablog.net/2025/09/15/invisible-hierarchies/

Invisible Hierarchies Invisible Hierarchies: How Co-ethnic and Generational Dynamics Affect Latinx Students in the Classroom By Allison Finn Yemez In their book, Reunited, about youth migrating to the US to reunite with parents in the Washington, DC area, Ernesto Castañeda and Daniel Jenks find…

For Afghan migrants in the US, acculturation is more than learning a new language and celebrating their traditions. It is also about navigating legal precarity and confronting exclusion, while holding hope. Read more here: https://aulablog.net/2025/09/12/what-does-it-mean-to-belong/

What Does It Mean to Belong? By S. Shrestha Belonging refers to the feeling of being accepted and emotionally connected to a group. It involves feeling included, valued, and recognized for one’s identity, culture, background, and contributions. The need to belong is deeply human. For migrants and…

The current administration is copying the authoritarian playbook by using the language of security to justify power grabs. Regimes built on this basis always become far more dangerous than the real or fabricated threats they promise to quash.

We ask whether someone’s movement is legal or illegal, allowed or forbidden. We debate thresholds and quotas, risks and threats. Rarely do we ask the more human question: Does a person have the right to move freely? Read more here: https://aulablog.net/2025/09/02/the-first-freedom/

"It isn't that there is no crime or drug trafficking in authoritarian regimes, just that the authorities are more likely to be involved. The Faustian bargain of surrendering democracy in exchange for security is a false pretense, an excuse to concentrate power"

In the Everglades, the new detention camp, “Alligator Alcatraz,” faces local opposition. Environmentalists warn of ecological harm, the Miccosukee Tribe defends their land, and immigrant advocates decry inhumane conditions. Read more:

"Who is poised to become Bolivia's president?" Robert Albro, Associate Director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, speaks on The Dialogue about the Bolivian election. Read more here:

Border walls and “security” rhetoric don’t make the U.S. safer—they fuel xenophobia. Misinformation fuels fear, framing immigrants as threats and justifying harsh policies that harm communities. Read more:

More authors at #ASA2025! Ernesto Castañeda with his book Reunited, co-authored with Daniel Jenks. Come by booth 625 to browse this book and many others and receive a 25% conference discount! @drernestocast.bsky.social @jenksd.bsky.social

New from the CLALS Working Paper Series! 📘 No. 58 — "Overcoming the National: Typologies and Assumptions in Studies of the Transnational" by Ernesto Castañeda 👉 To read: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5366392

New from the CLALS Working Paper Series! 📘 No. 57 — "Family-Propelled Migration and the Appearance of Social Networks" by Ernesto Castañeda & Daniel Jenks 👉 To read: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5357153

Spoke about "Immigration Realities" at The Groks Science Show radio program and podcast, which has been around since 2005. You can listen here for an immigration data crash course. @columbiaup.bsky.social  @aucollege.bsky.social  https://f.mtr.cool/isveqbmvbm

Cities and migration are deeply intertwined. We provide a longue-durée global overview of the connection between the social processes of migration and urbanization, puting contemporary discussions about migrants arriving in cities into a wider perspective. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Why are so many Ecuadorians fleeing their country? Gang violence, economic instability, and government failure have pushed over 240,000 Ecuadorians to seek asylum in the U.S. Read more here: https://aulablog.net/2025/04/09/thousands-fled-ecuador-since-2020/

New from the CLALS Working Paper Series! 📘 No. 56 — "Excluded at the Edges: Urban Peripheries and the Stigmatization of Space in France" by Ernesto Castañeda 👉 To read: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5351630

New from the CLALS Working Paper Series! 📘 No. 55 — "The Latinos of New York: New Immigrants Maintaining the City" by Ernesto Castañeda 👉 To read: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5351587

New from the CLALS Working Paper Series! 📘 No. 54 — "Migration, Urbanization, and Inclusion" by Ernesto Castañeda, Ricard Zapata, and Kevin Beck. Explore the intersections of mobility, cities, and belonging. 👉 To read: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5351579

Read open access to this new special issue or buy the book for your library, including authors from around the world. https://f.mtr.cool/grvtreeifs

USCIS declared that the children of immigrants who are “unlawfully present” will “no longer be US citizens at birth.” They'll inherit their parents' status, rendering them detainable & deportable ...this new underclass of noncitizen babies are apparently subject to arrest from the moment of birth."

Expats in Mexico City, despite recent protests, All Immigration is Good for Cities read this blog to see why: https://theimmigrationlab.org/blog/f/immigration-is-good-for-cities

Expats in Mexico City, despite recent protests, All Immigration is Good for Cities read this blog to see why: https://theimmigrationlab.org/blog/f/immigration-is-good-for-cities

Listen to my radio interview with the Latino Media Collective talking about my book "Immigration Realities;" immigrant detention, and face-covered agents in the streets acting with no accountability.  https://latinomediacollective.com/2025/06/06/june-6th-2025-immigrant-realities/

I will be presenting a data-driven examination of today’s immigration realities, trends & challenges. Immigration remains poorly understood & with myths about it often perpetuated. Join us. Penn Social is a block from the Gallery Place/ Chinatown metro stop. www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof...

It's time to reconsider how to improve US immigration laws. The Dignity Act is a bipartisan bill aiming to do so. Weaknesses:  People arriving after 2021 aren't included & doesn't provide a pathway to citizenship. Clips in Spanish: https://f.mtr.cool/dlsjvucqel https://f.mtr.cool/sgdhsxqgqr

Steven Miller has set the goal of 3k immigrant detentions daily nationwide, including Alaska, Hawaii & Puerto Rico. That'd be close to 1.1 million per year. In 4 yrs= 4.4 mil (plus family members & those choosing to leave). I calculate a 1% decrease in US GDP p/year per each million people deported.

Congress Don’t Tax Immigrant Remittances In 2023, those who sent remittances contributed over $2.7 trillion, which is 10% of the GDP. Remittances, represent only 3.5% of all the wealth created by immigrant workers in the U.S. @scholars.org #BigBill4Billionaires scholars.org/contribution...

July 29th in DC! Details and tickets at www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof... .

“I was extorted, not a gang member” Having had to pay extortion fees decreases the chances of winning asylum now that the Trump admin. has declared many gangs as terrorist groups.

Despite a comment from Pam Bondi at a congressional hearing this week, Mexico is not an enemy state. The fight against fentanyl can be strengthened through improved border scanning of legal trade, utilizing new technology that detects both drugs coming north and arms trafficking going south,🧵

LA Archbishop Gomez: "The current administration has offered no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day. ...This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes." angelusnews.com/voices/ice-r...

"Migration and Migration Status: Key Determinants of Health and Well-Being." NEW Special Issue edited by Dr. Maria de Jesus and Dr. Ernesto Castañeda. Free e-book here: https://f.mtr.cool/lbpuiwhegm

BLOG POST: In the protests against mass deportations & court accompaniments, we witness the growing power of empathy, physical intercession & sanctuary practices led by election officials, religious & secular citizens, moved by humanitarian & moral convictions. theimmigrationlab.org/blog/f/what-...

1 Impossible to carry out mass deportations in largest cities & not impact restaurant, hospitality & food sectors 2 Tensions between Miller & business interests. Seeing is believing 3 People have clearly expressed their disagreements on the streets but the WH is not listening. youtu.be/AieR74tMykk

Employment in the restaurant sector has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Castañeda points out that due to the industry’s heavy reliance on immigrant labor, restaurants often become targets for ICE actions. Heightened enforcement makes hiring even more difficult.

"Restaurants are a common focus for immigration enforcement visits due to the industry’s reliance on migrant labour, according to Ernesto Castañeda. Recent displays of force make it harder for restaurant owners to recruit staff' great story by @stephistacey.ft.com archive.is/202506081106...

Full interview in Spanish here: www.ntn24.com/noticias-act...

You can find my full talk about immigration and mental health and advice for journalists on how to write about immigration in the link below. Thank you for the invitation to speak @nationalpress.bsky.social

The Supreme Court lifted a lower-court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500k migrants from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua & Venezuela. It also allowed the admin to revoke temporary legal status from about 350k Venezuelan migrants in another case.

All the billions for border security in the BBB proposed budget are wasteful & unnecessary at a time when crossings are at a low. For more on "Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions" & immigration polices listen Friday, June 6 from 1 to 2 pm at WPFA 89.3FM DC