The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 8
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 8
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
Spectacle Becomes Reality: Observations from This Year’s Border Security Expo
Come get a glimpse of the inner workings of the border industrial complex with these photos, text, and a video tour of the exhibition hall at the end. You will also learn about the national border security awards and who won person of the year.
The Southwest's Ellis Island: A Q&A with Jazmine Ulloa, author of El Paso
"The history of migration through El Paso is one that’s been forgotten and overlooked, even though these workers—and not just workers but intellectuals, activists, and poets—helped shape the American Southwest as we know it today."
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Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Environment
‘This Will Kill People’: Laredo Landowners Fight Wall and Buoy Plan Threatening Flood-Prone Communities
As federal officials fast-track billions in border wall construction and floating buoy barriers, local leaders and residents say they’re in the dark, and fear the worst.
Inside Trump’s Plan to Finish Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley
Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floating barrier.
Trump Announces “First New U.S. Refinery in 50 Years” at Port of Brownsville, Reviving Local Resistance
Environmental advocates and residents say the long-proposed refinery threatens air quality and public health in a region already ringed by heavy industry.
At the End of the Wall: A Reporter’s Notebook
Walking from a blasted mountain top--a planned site for new border wall construction--to a makeshift military camp along the border in a remote part of southern Arizona led to a tense yet revelatory moment.
Arts & Culture
The Southwest's Ellis Island: A Q&A with Jazmine Ulloa, author of El Paso
"The history of migration through El Paso is one that’s been forgotten and overlooked, even though these workers—and not just workers but intellectuals, activists, and poets—helped shape the American Southwest as we know it today."
A Q&A with Human Rights Archaeologist Gabriella Soto
“For a long time, a big proportion of the American public said that border security was their most important issue. People are starting to realize what that means in terms of the violence entailed.”
The Mystical and Militarized Desert
On the Spanish thriller Sirāt, the concept of Saharanism, and our reckoning with narratives about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
The Borderlands’ Lost Third Country
Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue’s new novel, Now I Surrender, is an epic about the U.S. and Mexico’s joint erasure of Apachería.
The Border Chronicle Podcast
Inside the “National Defense Areas”: A Podcast with Investigative Reporters Sonner Kehrt and David Roza
With more than 40 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border now under military authority, we discuss our Border Chronicle/The War Horse investigation examining this unprecedented expansion of federal power and its impact on border communities.
What’s Wrong with Mexico’s Right Wing? A Conversation with Alex González Ormerod
When Alex González Ormerod, editor of the Mexico Political Economist, started researching his book about the Mexican right wing, he
Running through Borders: A Podcast with Amy Juan
Each year since 1995, the Tohono O’odham Nation has held the Unity Run. “These runs,” Amy Juan says,“not only have their purpose as prayer for the people and the land but also put us on the ground to actually see what is happening” on the border.
Gunfights Gunfights Gunfights: A Podcast with Poet Logan Phillips
Logan Phillips was born in Tombstone, Arizona—a town best known for Old West-themed gunfight tourism. In his new book, Reckon, Phillips explores his relationship to the unusual setting of his childhood through themes of masculinity, history, and land.
Community
Give to The Border Chronicle on Local News Day
Help us hire more reporters and fund more investigations. Support the country's only independent media outlet that covers the U.S.-Mexico border region-wide.
From a Park to a Prison
For more than two decades, San Diego resident Pedro Rios has documented the gradual walling off of the binational International Friendship Park. Now the Trump administration is sealing the rest of California’s border with Mexico.
Thou Shall Not Pray for Peace: The Bombing of Iran and the U.S.-Mexico Border
A few days after the United States launched Operation Epic Fury in Iran, the Border Patrol changed its policy on visits to the border wall, denying a church group permission to pray there, “for their own safety.”
What’s Next?
An immigration judge fired by the Trump administration searches for meaning at the southern border.
Immigration
The Southwest's Ellis Island: A Q&A with Jazmine Ulloa, author of El Paso
"The history of migration through El Paso is one that’s been forgotten and overlooked, even though these workers—and not just workers but intellectuals, activists, and poets—helped shape the American Southwest as we know it today."
A Q&A with Human Rights Archaeologist Gabriella Soto
“For a long time, a big proportion of the American public said that border security was their most important issue. People are starting to realize what that means in terms of the violence entailed.”
Exclusive Documentary Short Premier: What Do Argentina's Disappeared Have to Do With Unidentified Migrants on the U.S.-Mexico Border?
A Q&A and exclusive screening of a documentary short by award-winning filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz.
The DNA Archive Built to Identify the Border’s Missing Has Vanished
The Colibrí Center for Human Rights was a vital link between families and their missing loved ones. But now it's gone dark.
Border Militarization
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 8
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
Spectacle Becomes Reality: Observations from This Year’s Border Security Expo
Come get a glimpse of the inner workings of the border industrial complex with these photos, text, and a video tour of the exhibition hall at the end. You will also learn about the national border security awards and who won person of the year.
The Southwest's Ellis Island: A Q&A with Jazmine Ulloa, author of El Paso
"The history of migration through El Paso is one that’s been forgotten and overlooked, even though these workers—and not just workers but intellectuals, activists, and poets—helped shape the American Southwest as we know it today."
A Q&A with Human Rights Archaeologist Gabriella Soto
“For a long time, a big proportion of the American public said that border security was their most important issue. People are starting to realize what that means in terms of the violence entailed.”
Surveillance
Spectacle Becomes Reality: Observations from This Year’s Border Security Expo
Come get a glimpse of the inner workings of the border industrial complex with these photos, text, and a video tour of the exhibition hall at the end. You will also learn about the national border security awards and who won person of the year.
A War Zone, Minus the War: One Year Into the Military Buildup of the U.S.-Mexico Border
An investigation into how President Trump’s emergency declaration along the southern border expanded military power, blurred legal lines, and helped spread the use of military-grade technology.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Surveillance at the Arizona Border
From hidden license plate readers to AI-powered cameras, federal agents have built a vast monitoring network that stretches deep into Arizona.
The Tower and the Tarantula: Searching for a New Way Forward 24 Years after 9/11
A reflection on the development of a border war machine, its imposition, its fragility, and the necessity of finding another way.
Politics
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 8
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
‘This Will Kill People’: Laredo Landowners Fight Wall and Buoy Plan Threatening Flood-Prone Communities
As federal officials fast-track billions in border wall construction and floating buoy barriers, local leaders and residents say they’re in the dark, and fear the worst.
What’s Wrong with Mexico’s Right Wing? A Conversation with Alex González Ormerod
When Alex González Ormerod, editor of the Mexico Political Economist, started researching his book about the Mexican right wing, he
Exclusive Documentary Short Premier: What Do Argentina's Disappeared Have to Do With Unidentified Migrants on the U.S.-Mexico Border?
A Q&A and exclusive screening of a documentary short by award-winning filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz.
Economy
‘This Will Kill People’: Laredo Landowners Fight Wall and Buoy Plan Threatening Flood-Prone Communities
As federal officials fast-track billions in border wall construction and floating buoy barriers, local leaders and residents say they’re in the dark, and fear the worst.
Profitable Violence: A New Era of the Border Industrial Complex
In 2025, a dramatic increase in contracts to private industry correlates with increasing violence committed by border and immigration police forces.
They Grow the Food. So Why Are So Many Going Hungry?
In the Rio Grande Valley, a coalition of farmers, educators, and advocates is reimagining a food system built on justice, not scarcity.
Weekly Roundup
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 8
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 1
Happy May Day! An audio deep dive into the National Defense Areas and a human rights archeologist speaks on the politics of haunting and border deaths.
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup:April 24
Border barriers on the river could be fatal during floods, say Laredo landowners, a reflection on desert narratives and the U.S.-Mexico border, and become a sustaining member of The Border Chronicle today, get some cool, new merch, and help us hold those in power accountable.
The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: April 17
Were you wondering what was going on with Mexico's right wing? And what Argentina's disappeared have to do with the U.S.-Mexico border? You've come to the right place.