Diana Baptista

While President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Mexico with tariffs to stop the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States, data shows that Mexico has already been enacting a tough crackdown on migration for more than a year.

Since 2023, Mexico has intercepted a record number of migrants while also detaining and transporting migrants around the country in a strategy meant to tire them out, experts told Context.

After waiting for seven months, Nicaraguan migrant Aldo is only two numbers away from being assigned an asylum appointment through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) app.

Aldo left his country in February, desperate to find a job in the United States to provide for his eight children and has been waiting for an appointment in Mexico while he builds houses and works the corn fields.

For the human smugglers who ferry migrants northwards from Central America, the return of Donald Trump is a welcome New Year gift that promises to supercharge their business.

"Bless Donald Trump for winning," said one people smuggler, who talked to Context on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from Mexico's authorities as well as its drug cartels.

Intolerable heat. Unsurvivable storms. Inescapable floods. 

In 2024, billions of people across the world faced climatic conditions that broke record after record: logging ever more highs for heat, floods, storms, fire and drought. 

As the year drew to a close, the conclusion was both blatant and bleak: 2024 was the hottest year since records began, according to European climate scientists.

Delivery driver Daniela Orozco decided to wear baggy hoodies and keep her helmet on to avoid the unwanted advances and slurs that men threw at her during the risky night shift in Mexico City.

"The way I usually dress is masculine because I ... deliver at night. So it's a way of camouflaging myself to avoid the risk or visibility of being identified as a woman and becoming an easy target," said Orozco, 31, who has been delivering food on her motorbike for Uber Eats for nearly three years.

In Mexico City, growing numbers of female delivery workers have taken to gig work to make a living. As women bear the burden of care work, apps like Uber, DiDi and Rappi offer women flexible working hours, letting them decide when to connect and disconnect from their jobs.

But women in this line of work are not only constantly exposed to road accidents or crime, but also gender violence.

As global leaders gather at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's government hopes the launch of its Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty will become the hallmark of its G20 presidency.

Championed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the alliance that launched last week has so far drawn 81 participating members pledging to lift 500 million people out of poverty and hopes to reach its target of 100 countries in the coming months

As Americans head to the polls in a razor-thin contest, both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump have been courting Hispanic voters, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate.

Hispanics make up a record-high 14.7% of eligible voters this election, up from 7.4% in 2000, and the number eligible to cast their vote today totals 36.2 million - a potentially decisive demographic.

With home ownership beyond the reach of many Americans, the issue of affordable housing has become a major issue for voters.

Both Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, have focused on housing affordability in their campaigns.

Delivery workers and drivers for digital platforms such as Uber have won presidential backing for sweeping new rights in Mexico after the government said it would overhaul its labour laws.

Unions hailed the reforms as a big win for more than 600,000 underpaid, under-protected workers, saying the announcement could have a domino effect across the region.