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.
DHS has begun installing its massive floating buoy barrier which could include more than 500 miles.
The Border Patrol's long legacy of abuse, and border walls and buoys are killing the Rio Grande. A moving reflection from a border resident on what that means for the US and Mexico.
Why The Border Chronicle is leaving Substack. Some stories we'll be following this year. And setting our intentions on building a better future when everything seems bleak.
Dynamite blasts and paradise lost with wall construction in southern Arizona and a reflection on 2025 at the U.S.-Mexico border. Plus, support The Border Chronicle so we can expand coverage in 2026.
A DACA recipient in South Texas says life under the Trump mass deportation dragnet is "pure trauma." And a former immigration judge, fired in November, talks about the future of immigration courts.
Morale is low among judges, says Johnson, as the Trump administration ignores due process and the immigration case backlog grows.
A photographer documents extreme drought in Chihuahua and a Tucson poet talks apocalypse, and finding inspiration from Interstate 10 for her new book. Plus, more news from across the border region.
We are thankful to you for supporting the only independent border-wide publication owned by journalists. Plus, read a new CJR article about us, and listen to our podcast interview with Laura St. John
Illegal boat strikes are part of Trump's plan to militarize domestic policy, and a new exhibition in Tucson commemorates community resistance to the borderlands’ military-industrial complex
"The border has always been a laboratory for authoritarian policies. Now they're being unleashed into the interior of the country," he says.
Those recently deported say overcrowding in detention, lack of oversight and misinformation are creating deadly conditions. Plus, stories from the frontline of climate displacement in Guatemala.
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.