• HEMISPHERIC SECURITYVenezuela Voters Back Territorial Claim on Region in Guyana

    Venezuela’s government pressed ahead with the non-binding referendum despite the UN’s top court urging restraint in a territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana. Venezuelan voters also supported the formation of what Venezuela’s government describes as a new state whose inhabitants would be given Venezuelan citizenship.

  • AUTHORITARIANISMTerrorism Rather Than Pandemics More Concerning for Those with Authoritarian Views, Analysis Shows

    By Kerra Maddern

    People with authoritarian political views are more likely to be concerned about terrorism and border control than a future new health pandemic, new research shows.

  • CROSS-BORDER THREATSStriving for a More Secure World

    By Allan Brettman

    PNNL experts work with international partners to tackle cross-border biological and chemical threats. PNNL’s border security focus can be traced to the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. U.S. policy makers became concerned about the security of nuclear material in the newly independent states of the former U.S.S.R.

  • CROSS-BORDER THREATSStriving for a More Secure World

    By Allan Brettman

    PNNL experts work with international partners to tackle cross-border biological and chemical threats. PNNL’s border security focus can be traced to the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. U.S. policy makers became concerned about the security of nuclear material in the newly independent states of the former U.S.S.R.

  • MIGRATIONGermany Set to Tackle Refugee Issues

    By Sabine Kinkartz

    Germany is reexamining its refugee policy. Since many cities are overwhelmed with the number of migrants coming in, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is under pressure to make changes.

  • IMMIGRATIONWhy New York Is Experiencing a Migrant Crisis

    The city of New York typically receives tens of thousands of new arrivals each year. But since spring 2022, numbers have been rising especially quickly. More than 118,000 migrants and asylum seekers, most of whom hail from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, have arrived after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The arrival of more than one hundred thousand migrants and asylum seekers in New York City and other major U.S. cities over the past year has sparked renewed debate over U.S. immigration policy.

  • BORDER SECURITYThe Southern Border Poses Terrorism Risks. Homegrown Threats Still Loom Larger.

    By Jacob Ware

    The fears of terrorists entering the U.S. illegally can never be completely dismissed, but to date they have been mostly hypothetical, as there is scant evidence that illegal immigrants have committed acts of terrorism in the United States. For now, the most serious terrorist danger still comes from lone-actor racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs), radicalized online here inside the United States, attacking soft targets using firearms.

  • CHINA WATCHChina's South China Sea Tactics Push Manila to Become More Assertive

    By William Yang

    In a bold move, the Philippine coast guard this week publicly cut loose a floating barrier installed by China near a disputed South China Sea lagoon, highlighting how Beijing’s actions are fueling forceful responses, analysts say. It also could help rally other countries in the region to stand up to Beijing.

  • IMMIGRANTS & INNOVATIONThe Contribution of High‐Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States

    By Shai Bernstein, Rebecca Diamond, Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon, Beatriz Pousada, and Timothy McQuade

    Innovation and technological progress are key determinants of economic growth. There is growing evidence that immigrants play a key role in U.S. innovation. Based on a 2003 survey, U.S. immigrants with a four‐year college degree were twice as likely to have a patent than U.S.-born college graduates.

  • BORDER SECURITYBavaria Promotes Its Border Police as Model for Germany

    By William Noah Glucroft

    With state elections coming up and migration on the rise, State Premier Markus Söder is stumping for border security. His revamped border police are five years old — supporters and critics disagree on their necessity.

  • MIGRATIONEritrea Stoking Conflicts Between Its Migrants Abroad

    By Mimi Mefo Takambou

    The repressive regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has forced many Eritreans to seek refuge abroad. Some commentators believe Afwerki is stoking conflict between Eritrean migrants and their host nations.

  • MIGRATIONFlorida Arrests Undocumented Migrant Under State’s New Law

    By Yeny Garcia

    A Mexican citizen taken into custody for allegedly driving without U.S. papers and transporting undocumented people was one of the first people to be arrested under Florida’s controversial SB 1718, considered the most restrictive state law regarding migrants in the United States.

  • MIGRATIONU.S.-Mexico Border World’s Deadliest Migration Land Route

    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented 686 deaths and disappearances of migrants on the US-Mexico border in 2022, making it the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide on record.

  • BORDER SECURITYFederal Judge Orders Texas to Remove Floating Border Barrier. Abbott Immediately Appeals the Ruling.

    By William Melhado and Uriel J. Garcia

    Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river.

  • IMMIGRATIONWhy Some Wisconsin Lawmakers and Local Officials Have Changed Their Minds About Letting Undocumented Immigrants Drive

    By Melissa Sanchez

    “If we suddenly kicked out all of the people here, the undocumented, our dairy farms would collapse,” one lawmaker said. “We have to come up with a solution.”