Regional Challenges
Central America & Mexico Policy Initiative
The Central America and Mexico Policy Initiative (CAMPI) aims to address the gap in policy-relevant scholarship on Central America and Mexico’s migration and security challenges. CAMPI aspires to create educational opportunities, research activity, and community engagement that will spur sophisticated inquiry into the causes, dimensions, and consequences of violence and migration in these regions, as well as the adequacy of past, present, and potential policy responses at both the national and international levels.
Top CAMPI issues
- Transit migration through Mexico, particularly related to Central American violence and insecurity.
- Policy responses to asylum seekers and human smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Rule of law, human rights, and violence in Mexico and Central America.
- Civilian oversight of the military in Mexico and across Latin America.
Publications
Latest Research Briefs, Articles, and Reports
Migration Dynamics and Conditions at the U.S.-Mexico Border: February 2026
Migration Dynamics and Conditions at the U.S.-Mexico Border: November 2025
Asylum Processing at the U.S.-Mexico Border: August 2025
Datasets
Datasets on Migrant Deaths
Datasets on Migrant Deaths
Since 2018, researchers at CAMPI have collected and contributed to datasets compiling migrant deaths at the Texas-Mexico border. We are now publishing these datasets through the following links:
Migrant Deaths by Location
From 2018 to 2025, researchers at CAMPI traveled to counties throughout South Texas to create migrant death datasets. The researchers reviewed local officials documents and obtained additional records through Texas public records requests:
- Brooks County (2006-2025)
- Kenedy County (1990-2021)
- Maverick County (1994-2024)
- Other South Texas Counties (2012-2023)
Migrant Deaths from Drowning:
The Washington Post and El Universal, Lighthouse Reports led a cross-border, data-driven investigation that documented 1,107 migrant drownings in the Rio Grande from 2017 to 2023, greatly surpassing official counts. By systematically compiling death records from agencies in Mexico and the United States, alongside extensive on-the-ground reporting, the project built the first-ever database of drownings in the Rio Grande for the Texas-Mexico border.
Events
Our Events
- October 20, 2022
- 12:15 - 1:30 pm
- SRH 3.122, LBJ School
Baseball Diplomacy and the State of U.S.-Mexico Cooperation
- October 6, 2022
- 12:15 - 1:30 pm
- SRH 3.122, LBJ School
