Special Reports

I. Introduction The figure of the “coyote,” commonly understood as a facilitator of irregular migration across borders, occupies a central yet contested place in migration studies. Often portrayed in policy discourse as a criminal intermediary, the coyote is more accurately understood as a product of structural forces, including restrictive immigration regimes, labor demand, and geopolitical inequalities. Nowhere is this more evident than along the Mexico–United States migra

Born of Fear — How 9/11 Reshaped Immigration Enforcement U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not emerge through gradual policy evolution—it was forged in a moment of national trauma. In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States fundamentally reimagined its approach to security. Immigration, once primarily managed as a civil and administrative issue, was suddenly recast as a matter of national defense. This shift culminated in the passage of the Homeland Securit