San Salvador, El Salvador – On Sunday, February 4, right-wing Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele illegally ran for reelection even though the country’s constitution doesn’t allow presidents to serve two consecutive terms. With extreme irregularities throughout the year leading up to the election and systemic chaos bringing ballot counting to a halt on election night, Bukele still declared himself the winner of the presidency, and his party the winner of 58 out 60 Legislative Assembly seats. Opposition parties stated that Bukele’s claim that his party had won 58 of 60 Legislative Assembly seats was wildly inaccurate.

Minneapolis, MN – On Aug. 9 immigrant rights activists organized a vigil in Minneapolis as part of an International Day of Action in solidarity with Central American refugee children. Vigils were held in many cities in the U.S., Mexico and Central America. The vigils demanded protection and legal status, not detention and deportation for the tens of thousands of Central American children crossing the border into the U.S. – fleeing violence and extreme poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Obama administration is currently focusing on speeding up deportations of the children rather than treating them as refugees that need legal protective status and family reunification.

_Obama administration begins to speed deportations _

San José, CA – As more Central American children flee violence and poverty and seek to reunite with their families already in the U.S., anti-immigrant vigilantes are targeting buses carrying children. Republican politicians have likened the children to an invading army and have called for changing the law to allow for faster deportations.