Research Library

Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute Mexico Center, testified on transnational labor flows and commerce at an April 10, 2017, hearing of the Texas House Committee on International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs.

With the Texas Legislature now considering several bills that would decrease penalties for marijuana possession and legalize the use of medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, authors William Martin and Katharine A. Neill present updated findings in this new issue brief that support the case for reforming marijuana policy in Texas.

Despite many differences, the United States and Saudi Arabia maintain important mutual interests. Fellow Jim Krane explains why rebuilding ties with Saudi Arabia could incentivize the kingdom to place more importance on U.S. goals.

Criminal extortion is on the rise in Mexico, particularly along the northern border states. Author Gary Hale shows how this trend has fueled government corruption, with officials implicitly or explicitly aiding organized crime groups as they extort businesses and citizens.

This paper argues that the Texas social studies curriculum does not offer balanced coverage of world religions, due in large part to intervention by conservative members of the Texas State Board of Education. The paper identifies examples of imbalanced coverage in social studies texts and offers recommendations for broadening coverage of religion in Texas public schools.

This policy brief analyzes the impact of the increasing number of parents who opt their children out of school-entry vaccinations for nonmedical reasons in Texas and argues that the state should make obtaining nonmedical exemptions more rigorous in order to reduce the public health risks and costs associated with vaccine-preventable diseases.

Using charts, figures and graphs of this survey data originally created by former career intelligence analyst Brian C. Bennett and updated by the Drug Policy Program, this issue brief offers an overview of drug use trends in America over the last four decades. The brief is part of a larger online project chronicling the pattern of the use and abuse of individual drugs over (in most cases) more than 40 years.

This interactive online map and graphs examine trends in Mexican students studying the United States, using data from 1999 to 2014 acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Nonresident scholar Isidro Morales examines the Mexican government's response to Donald Trump and other critics of Mexico in the U.S. and abroad.

Erika de la Garza, program director of the Latin America Initiative, reflects on President Obama's Cuba trip in light of her own visit to the island earlier this month.