The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: February 6

Just abolishing ICE misses the bigger point, and a deep look at the history of cotton in the borderlands.

By Todd Miller

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February 6, 2026

The scene in Tucson, Arizona on January 30. Approximately 6,000 marched during the general strike to protest immigration enforcement. (Photo credit: Todd Miller)

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

Abolishing Just ICE Misses the Point: A Podcast with Melissa and Todd

The Lives That Cotton Made

The Border Chronicle in the News:

Melissa breaks down the Border Patrol and its extensive reach across the country in an interview with KJZZ.

More News from Across the Border:

Trump’s border-czar takeover does little to calm Minneapolis tensions: ‘The agenda is still the same’ The Guardian

Border czar says feds will withdraw 700 law enforcement personnel from Minnesota immediately CBS News

New footage shows Border Patrol shooting in Portland from distance OPB

Democrats demand reforms to Homeland Security over immigration operations Al Jazeera

Text messages show Steve Bannon bragged to Jeffrey Epstein about secretly building private border wall near El Paso El Paso Matters

How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are New York Times

These Companies—Palantir, AT&T, Deloitte—Have The Biggest ICE Contracts As DHS Funding Under Fire Forbes

Author

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.