Border Chronicle: Weekly Roundup March 21

Our invited immigration expert, Austin Kocher, has answers for our readers. Watch our video! And read on for more news from The Border Chronicle and the borderlands.

By , &
●
Immigration
●
March 21, 2025

Ask an Expert: Austin Kocher

As promised, immigration expert Austin Kocher has answers for some of your most confounding immigration questions. We sent Austin your questions and he chose three of them to answer. We also tried something fun by doing this via video. Thanks so much to our readers who sent in your questions. Every one of them was great! And thanks Austin for taking the time to share your knowledge with us.

“The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.” —Jorge Luis Borges

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Hundreds of troops could be headed to Presidio County, but officials lack firm details The Big Bend Sentinel

Trump team makes plans for military to hold migrants at border The Washington Post

A Deadly Passage Texas Monthly

Video: Bishop Michael Hunn Responds to Department of Homeland Security: Defending Our Border Ministry

“A mi país ya no regreso”: Juárez, de paso de migrantes a ciudad de refugio La Verdad Juarez

Authors
Austin Kocher
Melissa del Bosque

Melissa del Bosque is Co-founder and Executive Director of The Border Chronicle. Melissa has written about the U.S.-Mexico border since 1998 for various media outlets, including ProPublica, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Texas Observer, and The Intercept.

Her work has been recognized with numerous U.S. and international journalism awards, including a Gabo Award and the Internacional Rey de España de Periodismo award, as the U.S.-Mexico investigations editor for Lighthouse Reports. In 2020, del Bosque received the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award as part of a ProPublica group reporting project “Inside the Border Patrol.” In 2016, she received the Hillman Prize for her investigative feature “Death on Sevenmile Road” about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2015, del Bosque’s four-part series with The Guardian on migrant deaths in South Texas won an Emmy and a National Magazine Award. 

Del Bosque is also the author of Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty. She has a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s in Public Health from the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, and a Bachelor’s in poetry and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

In her spare time, Melissa loves to travel, spend time with her family, and explore the Sonoran Desert.

The Border Chronicle
Related Articles
Immigration Policy Is Maternal Health Policy
By &
●
Immigration
●
September 1, 2026

Research in Texas confirms what border communities already know: that harsh immigration policies harm maternal health. As border-style enforcement spreads across the United States, its consequences for mothers and infants will spread with it.

Why Local Pressure is Key to Impacting National Immigration Politics: A podcast with John Washington, author of “How to Close a Camp.”
By &
●
Community
●
July 16, 2026

In February, the country broke an ominous record: over 68,000 people were being held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than ever before.

From Fear to Hope: At a Tucson Summer Camp, Asylum-Seeking Children Find Joy Again
By
●
Community
●
July 14, 2026

As immigrant families face detention, shrinking legal protections and the threat of deportation, Camp Hope offers children a rare chance to play, heal and dream. One former camper is headed to an opera conservatory in Italy.