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United States
Expanding Deportation Facilities
The United States’ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working with the Department of Defense (DOD) to build immigration detention facilities in domestic military sites across the country. Fort Bliss in Texas is already currently being actively developed, with the potential to eventually hold 10,000 immigrants without legal status before their deportation. It would serve as a prototype for building detention facilities in as many as ten more military bases that are being considered. The plan is being developed as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) facilities are now at capacity, with over 41,000 immigrants in custody. Nearly 55% of current detainees have no criminal record, and many more have committed minor offenses such as traffic violations. Critics of the plan note that detention facilities are labor and resource-intensive, making them an obstacle to the combat readiness of the military bases.
This map depicts United States military bases being considered as potential sites for holding facilities for immigrants without legal status before deportation, on the model currently being developed in Texas’ Fort Bliss. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: New York Times
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mystery Illness Spreads
More than 50 people have been killed by a mystery illness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with over 430 cases reported since February 15th, and with half of the deaths occurring within 48 hours of the onset of sickness. Symptoms have included fever, vomiting, internal hemorrhaging, diarrhea, nosebleeds, and body aches, among others. According to the World Health Organization, the virus may have spread to humans from bats. The first outbreak occurred after three children under 5 years old ate a bat, then died within 48 hours following hemorrhagic fever symptoms. In the past 50 years, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Hendra virus, Nipah virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and SARS-CoV-2, are just some of the viruses that have been linked back to various bat species.
This map depicts the locations associated with the mystery illness outbreak in Congo. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Daily Mail
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World
Coffee Prices Soar
Coffee prices have hit a 50-year high due to a combination of rising costs of production, supply chain disruptions, and climate change–related declines in crop yields. Coffee plants are sensitive to changes in precipitation and temperature, and recent droughts in Brazil and Vietnam resulted in poor harvests. Coffee companies are passing on the extra costs to customers, with the average retail price of ground roast coffee increasing 15 percent in American cities in the past year and peaking at over $7 a pound. As climate change will continue to threaten coffee harvests in the years to come, shrinking the land available for coffee cultivation by half, prices are expected to keep rising.
This map depicts the predicted change in suitability for growing coffee in different regions between 2000 and 2050 based on climate projections. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What is the largest enclosed natural water reservoir on the planet?
A: Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland or land-locked water body in terms of surface area. It is an elongated sea that stretches for nearly 750 miles (1,200 km) from north to south, with an average width of only 200 miles (320 km). It covers an area of about 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km) and its surface lies some 90 feet (27 m) below sea level. For reference, this means its surface area is roughly equal to the country of Japan. The sea is enclosed on three sides by Russia, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, and the southern shore forms the northern border of Iran. The sea is fed mainly by the River Volga, and there is no outlet. The Caspian Sea is also unique for its unusual salinity, compared to typical oceans and seas. Essentially, it displays the characteristics of both freshwater and saltwater bodies.
Source
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Q: What country is home to the tallest volcano in Central America?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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