All Democrats (including Fetterman this time), plus Rs Paul and Murkowski, were not enough to put the brakes on a possible US military intervention in Venezuela. Thanks to everyone who made calls and tried to pry away moderate Republicans who remain glued to Trump even after Tuesday’s vote outcome.

Like dozens of judges (including Trump appointees) who’ve had to spell out what their rulings mean, a resolution before the Senate today spells out, in the case of Venezuela, what “Congress’s power to declare war” means. This should pass easily—if Congress still cares about being a coequal branch.

Not true obviously, but you save more lives when you stop a vessel and arrest those aboard, alive, if they're actually trafficking drugs. Instead of drowned bodies, you get useful intel about their criminal structures, their support networks, their finances, and future vessels.

The resolution going before the Senate tomorrow makes a simple demand: no U.S. hostilities in Venezuela unless Congress—which has the power to declare war—approves. This should be uncontroversial, regardless of party.

"Border Report" says Border Patrol apprehended people 7,990 times at the U.S.-Mexico border in October: www.borderreport.com/immigration/... If so, then increases since the summer have leveled off amid the continued unavailability of asylum at the border and climate of fear in the US interior.

Here's the fake ID I use to get into Safeway.

7 of the last 9 illegal boat strikes, spanning 15 days, have happened in the eastern Pacific. Not the Caribbean, far from Venezuela. (Hurricane Melissa may have been a factor, but who knows.)

wow

The NJ race was supposed to be close but Sherrill may end up with a margin similar to Spanberger's.

Loudon County VA voted D+19 in 2017, D+11 in '21, D+16 in '24. Now, D+28—a 12-point swing. If you’re a Republican legislator who won your seat by <10 points, the President’s unpopularity clearly threatens your job. Something to consider before the next vote on, say, “presidential war powers.”

This is the sort of stuff that you miss out on when you're a Latin Americanist:

The photos in this Chicago Tribune piece… It's a quiet middle-class inner suburb, but these guys look like they're in Fallujah circa 2006. The uniforms indicate Border Patrol and its BORTAC "special operations" unit. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/c...

This is Wednesday: at WOLA and livestreamed. Don't miss it—here's the event/RSVP page: www.wola.org/events/uncha...

"U.S. troops in Mexico would mainly use drone strikes to hit drug labs and cartel members and leaders… the administration plans to maintain secrecy around it and not publicize actions associated with it." "U.S. troops in Mexico": just sit with that one for a moment.

I come from people who still haven't gotten over the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. But after all that Los Angeles has been through over the past year, from devastating fires to Greg Bovino's raids, I'd say the Dodgers can have this one.

Latin America-Related Events in Washington and Online This Week 6 events about Latin America this week, that I know about, that can be attended in person in Washington or online anywhere.

- 1st month of strikes: 3 attacks, 17 deaths - 2nd month of strikes: 12 attacks, 48 deaths It is now 60 days since the first illegal boat strike in the waters of Latin America. That is an important date for the War Powers Resolution (see www.justsecurity.org/123717/war-p...).

the one part of this awful video I found inspiring is the moment when the cam pans back and you see an array of upstanding Americans with their smartphones out filming these gutter thugs. that's really the symbol of the opposition. the smartphone and its embedded video cam.

Great to see the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking so clearly about the United States' murderous boat strikes in the Western Hemisphere. 59 days after the first strike is hardly "rapid response," but it's way better than "never, because it's the USA." www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

ICE Agent, 7-Year-Old Both Wearing Same ‘Military Commando’ Halloween Costume

Amazing, but my soul hurts.

A little toddler in a hobbit costume came to the door, saw me with the candy bowl, and said "Grandpa!" so I'm going to walk into the Potomac, nice knowing you

🚨 Event next week 🚨 📅 Wednesday, November 5, 2025 ⏰ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM EST 🎧 English with Spanish translation 🔗 Register now: wola.org/events/uncha...

This week's @wola-org.bsky.social Border Update has a lot of charts. Fiscal 2025 data show a big drop in migration but a rise since July. Border Patrol agents will replace ICE officials in a purge. Updates about cybersecurity and civil liberties, and human rights issues in Chicago and elsewhere.

Targets “could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours” without congressional approval, without a clear strategy or even explanation, without any assurance that the drones and Tomahawks aren’t aimed at some new version of “makeup artists with tattoos.”

Remember this iconic 2018 photo of a Honduran mom and kids running from Border Patrol tear gas on the Mexican side of the border? There was no accountability then, and it's happening in Chicago now.

This is what migration has looked like at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 3 fiscal years (fiscal 2025 ended September 30). This combines people apprehended by Border Patrol and people who came to ports of entry, usually with "CBP One" appointments when those existed.

Remember when someone fearing death or persecution could make an appointment at a US border port of entry and begin their asylum process? Flawed as it was, CBP One (RIP) protected many people. Now there's nothing. Chart: borderoversight.org/2025/10/30/c... Table: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

On October 8, the Senate narrowly failed to pass a War Powers Resolution that could have stopped these lawless strikes. Since then, the US Department of Defense has killed 40 more people (out of 61 total).

Wherever you stand on the issue, this is a must-read on what happened with the Biden administration response to the border in 2021. I had to re-read the highlighted clause a couple of times to absorb it, though… how could _anyone_ think the rickety US asylum system "could hold"?!

"China could cite a continued pattern of so-called illegal behavior by Taiwanese vessels as an organized illegal campaign… "building on the U.S. precedent, China could declare an armed conflict against the government of Taiwan." — "Anonymous DOD employee":

Interesting vote today "terminating the national emergency declared to impose duties on articles imported from Brazil." Voting with the Democrats were Collins, McConnell, Murkowski, Paul, and Tillis. www.senate.gov/legislative/...

57 now dead in 13 attacks. Fact sheet now updated at www.wola.org/analysis/fac...

oh no, someone call Neil Young and Willie Nelson, we've got to Farm Aid this guy

ICE has big problems with use of force, brutal detention conditions, and other human rights abuses. But if you think their cowboy culture is indistinguishable from Border Patrol's, just watch what happens now, as ICE undergoes "Border Patrol-ization." www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-a...

In the end-of-fiscal-year U.S.-Mexico border data that came out late Friday: Border seizures of fentanyl dropped a remarkable 46% from 2024 to 2025. The 2023-25 drop was 57%. The decline began about 1.5 years before Trump took office. Chart and data table: borderoversight.org/2025/10/27/b...

Much of the increase in Border Patrol migrant apprehensions since July has happened in Arizona (Tucson and Yuma), followed by south Texas. Full table: cbpdata.adamisacson.com/cbp_data_tab...

Latin America-Related Events in Washington and Online This Week 9 events about Latin America this week, that I know about, that can be attended in person in Washington or online anywhere.

Though overall numbers remain very low, it's notable that Border Patrol's apprehensions of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border increased 83 percent from July to September: people are still coming despite a historic, often abusive crackdown. Here are all nationalities over 50 apprehensions per month:

Her near-total silence over the past 11.5 months is disqualifying. Few have more media access or social followings—but what has she said about ICE raids, militarization, corruption, boat bombings, DEI, tariffs? She could’ve accompanied everyone from Abrego to Kimmel to Zelensky. She sat it all out.

Tuesday will be 50 days since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican appointees issued an order allowing the Trump administration, essentially, to target working-class Latinos in its massive immigration raids. What has happened since has been as bad, if not worse, than experts warned on Sept. 8.

In the "false positives" scandal, Colombia's military killed 6,402 civilian noncombatants between 2002 and 2008. That's 76 extrajudicial executions per month. With 43 "boat strike" killings since September 2—22 per month—the Trump admin is already at nearly one-third of the "false positives" pace.

After reading so many Big Media profiles of Gallego as a “savvy purple-state Mod Dem who’s cracked the code for getting through to centrist voters,” it’s encouraging to see him telling the unvarnished truth about this in such plain language.

Gallego: "It's murder. It's very simple. If this president feels they are doing something illegally, then he should be using the Coast Guard. If this is an act of war, then you use our military and then you come and talk to us first. But this is murder ... it's disgusting."

I’m sorry, why are we using “critics accuse” language here? These are factually, unambiguously, extrajudicial killings. It’s not an opinion. It’s not a disputed or disputable claim.

That anonymous donor could be foreign. That $130 million could be "military aid" from another nation. In that scenario, we are Pinochet's Chile, and the unknown foreign donor is Henry Kissinger.

- What is the current "boat strike" death toll? (43) - How much of cocaine supplies (est) actually transit Venezuela? (10-13%) - How much US-bound fentanyl comes from South America? (none) We all need credibly sourced information right now. And here is a new @wola-org.bsky.social fact sheet:

If Colombia's president had ties to drug traffickers, you'd think the Trump administration would've mentioned that in September, when the White House "decertified" Colombia. No evidence is presented to support such a claim. The Treasury sanctions process is being politicized and weaponized.

CBP's usually moribund "Accountability and Transparency" page just posted 7 notifications about migrant deaths. www.cbp.gov/newsroom/acc...

This article mentions, as "raising questions," 7 Senate Rs who voted on October 8 to allow lethal boat strikes to continue. Since then, this lawless policy has killed 22 more people. (43 total.) There will be a new resolution; changing one's vote is the honorable choice.