Eduardo Gamarra Americas Insights

Will Mass Deportation Take Place? What the Trump Administration Has Actually Done—and What It Means for U.S. Latinos Eduardo A. Gamarra   A year ago, I wrote a piece with this same title.   See my post from November 13, 2024, a few days following Donald Trump’s dramatic electoral victory.  In this piece, I update what has occurred and what it means for Latinos in the United States.  Few campaign promises have been as central to Donald Trump’s political identity as the pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. During the campaign and after taking office, Trump and his closest advisors spoke openly of removing anywhere from two to twenty-five million people—an extraordinary range that reflected both ambition and imprecision. Former and current officials framed mass deportation as not only feasible but necessary to restore “law and order,” often emphasizing the removal of “dangerous criminals” as both justification and r...

Washington Has Painted Itself Into a Corner on Venezuela Eduardo A Gamarra   For much of the past year, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has oscillated between pressure and pragmatism, threats and talks, sanctions and selective waivers. But as 2025 draws to a close, that oscillation has largely ended. Washington has maneuvered itself into a narrow policy corridor in which limited military strikes now appear not only possible but increasingly likely—less because they are strategically optimal than because alternative paths have been politically foreclosed. This is a dangerous place to be. The United States faces three broad options in Venezuela today: a negotiated transition, a campaign of limited military strikes to catalyze regime collapse, or a far more consequential full-scale intervention. Of these, a negotiated settlement remains the most desirable outcome—for Venezuelans, for regional stability, and for U.S. interests. Yet it is also the least likely. Through a combination of max...