Stephanie Leutert

From October 8, 2016: Stephanie Leutert, the Mexico Security Initiative Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Lawfare's "Beyond the Border" series, joined Benjamin Wittes on this week's podcast to talk about the epidemic of violence plaguing Mexico and Central America. Despite the brutality, extremity, and remarkable scale of the violence going on immediately to our south, those of us in the United States who work and think on national security issues rarely consider it to be relevant to national security. Why is that? How bad is the violence in these countries? What's causing the crisis, and the waves of migration it generates, in the first place? And what, if anything, can be done to stop it?Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephanie Leutert, Mexico Security Initiative Fellow at UT Austin and author of the "Beyond the Border" series, discusses the epidemic of violence in Mexico and Central America. She outlines how homicide and disappearance rates have surged. She explains blurred lines between cartels and gangs, why U.S. security often overlooks the crisis, and how violence fuels migration and policy dilemmas.

Stephanie Leutert, Mexico Security Initiative director, discusses migrant caravans on the Mexico-Guatemala border. Topics include reasons for joining caravans, alternatives, factors driving migration from Honduras, gang violence impact, challenges faced by migrants, and experiences of Honduran migrants towards the U.S. border.