Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: May 16

Todd travels to New Mexico’s “National Defense Area” and speaks with residents, and Pablo in South Texas writes about the recently designated “endangered” Rio Grande, which is the true border crisis.

Ask an Expert: Timothy Dunn

In the last month, as reported here at The Border Chronicle, we’ve seen active-duty military deployments and the creation of new militarized “national defense areas” at the southern border. The Trump administration is moving quickly, pushing the military into domestic law enforcement duties, violating federal laws, and acting without the approval of Congress. What should we be concerned about moving forward? And is this unprecedented?

Sociologist Timothy Dunn is one of the top experts on border militarization in the United States. And he will answer those questions, and any others you might have about this rapid militarization happening right now at the border. Dunn’s books include The Militarization of the U.S. Mexico Border 1978-1992: Low Intensity Doctrine Comes Home and Blockading the Border and Human Rights: The El Paso Operation that Remade Immigration Enforcement.

Email questions for Timothy Dunn to theborderchronicle@protonmail.com And he will answer them via video in our weekly roundup on May 30. Don’t forget to put “ask an expert” in the subject line of your email.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Judge Dismisses ‘Trespassing’ Charges Promoted by Trump in Border ‘Defense Area’: The New York Times

The Big Takeover: inside secret plans to create a nation-wide militarized law enforcement system under Trump’s command: Cochise Regional News

Migrant Drug Seizures by Border Patrol Incredibly Rare, Data Shows: Project on Government Oversight

Military Presence Arrives to SCC: Nogales International

Also, mentioned in today’s video roundup discussion:

Authors

Reports from the Texas-Mexico border for The Border Chronicle. Print and radio journalist with bylines in NPR, Texas Public Radio, MSNBC, The Texas Standard, Lighthouse Reports and more.

Todd Miller is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of The Border Chronicle. He is the author of four books that examine border militarization and its externalization, surveillance technology and industry, climate change, and the search for alternatives. His books include Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders (City Lights, 2021) Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World (Verso, 2019),  Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security (City Lights, 2017), and Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security (City Lights, 2014).

Todd’s forthcoming book is a deep examination of water as a border issue in an age of climate-induced heat waves and drought. It will be published by Seven Stories Press in 2027.

Besides The Border Chronicle, articles by Todd have appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, San Francisco Chronicle, In These Times, Guernica, TomDispatch, and Al Jazeera English, among other places. He has also authored and co-authored reports on border surveillance, the border industrial complex, and climate change for the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, where he is a fellow.

Todd’s book Storming the Wall received the Izzy Award in 2018 for “path-breaking and in-depth reporting.” He also received first place in “Community immigration reporting” by the Arizona Press Club in 2013. Todd has a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and Journalism from Prescott College, where he is also an adjunct professor.

In his spare time, Todd likes to travel, read, philosophize, and hang out with his two kids—whether it be going to a dance recital or being a basketball coach.

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