Experts in the News

Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, discussed Mexico's decision to release cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's son from police custody.

Caravans of Central Americans heading toward the U.S. have been driven underground by government checkpoints at the Guatemala-Mexico border, Mexico Center director Tony Payan said. "It's going to have a pernicious effect because people are not going to band together by the hundreds or thousands. They’re probably going to resort to organized smugglers or ‘coyotes'" as they cross remote areas and mountain passes.

"Mexico cannot yet grapple with what’s going on, and the federal administration does not have a coherent policy just yet,” Mexico Center director Tony Payan says of challenges in deterring Central American migrants from entering the country's southern border. KJZZ: http://bit.ly/2JjklhU

“What he’s doing is dooming Mexico to a backward energy model for the next few decades," Mexico Center director Tony Payan says of AMLO’s efforts to halt foreign investment in the country's energy sector.

"It’s very difficult for the president to make a case for a border wall and for a national emergency" when illegal immigration numbers have been down for years, Mexico Center director Tony Payan says. Watch Houston Public Media's "Red, White and Blue": https://bit.ly/2HYcEyK