IRTF News

OIA Case Study Finds Egregious Errors in White House “Alien Arrest” Tracking Website

Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador welcomes tourists with open arms while ruthlessly imprisoning its own people.

June 21 marks National Day Against Forced Disappearance in Guatemala, honoring the estimated 45,000 people who were disappeared by the State during the Internal Armed Conflict. This year, NISGUA accompanied a commemoration organized by Genocide Never Again Coordination, a network of organizations that includes the Association of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared in Guatemala (FAMDEGUA, by its Spanish acronym), Mutual Aid Group (GAM),  Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice and Against Erasure and Silence (HIJOS), and the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights (CALDH), among others. Volunteers set up 450 chairs in Plaza de Las Niñas, Guatemala City’s large, central public square directly in front of the Presidential Palace. Taped to each chair was a picture of one of the disappeared, as well as a flower. Throughout the event, all 450 pairs of photographed eyes were trained on the Palacio Nacional—a powerful reminder of the Guatemalan state’s’culpability in the repression of its own citizens.

On June 4th, the community of Copal AA La Esperanza invited NISGUA to participate in their annual Mother Earth Festival—a day to celebrate the soil, water and forest that sutain their livelihoods and to explicitly reject the corporate interests that exploit them.

Under the heat of the morning sun, more than 600 people marched from the permanent resistance in Casillas to a rally and Catholic mass in the center of town to honor the anniversary of resistance against the Escobal mine, currently owned by Canadian corporation Pan-American Silver. Volunteers from the communities surrounding the mine have served 24 hour shifts on a rotating basis for the past nine years monitoring fuel quantity and movement in the region, in order to ensure the mine remains out of operation. While this was the 9th anniversary of the resistance, the struggle against the mine began 18 years ago, marked by criminalization, repression, denial of the existence of the Xinka people, and violence against land and water defenders.

This article details how the second Trump administration's mass deportation campaign has dramatically increased the detention and removal rates of immigrants who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors, often rolling back legal protections previously granted to them. Through the lens of 18-year-old Elder Chavez and other detained youth, it highlights the rapid-fire deportation orders in immigration courts, the harsh conditions within detention centers, and the growing pushback from federal judges and legal advocates.

New analysis and firsthand accounts reveal the toll of the crackdown on immigrant communities in L.A. County and beyond. Thousands of people detained during the height of the raids remain in immigration custody or have already been deported.

One week after the Colombian elections, Community Peacemaker Teams met with local leadership in El Guayabo to collectively reflect on emerging risks, evaluate past strategies, and adapt their approach to defending their territory. Despite the exhausting challenges of ongoing resistance, the community drew strength from their shared experience, international support, and mutual care, reaffirming that their collective organization is what keeps hope and resilience alive.