Author

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.

Melissa's Latest Articles

Just Another $50 Million Brick in the Wall

A Q&A with Scott Nicol on his New Report on the Expansion of Border Wall in Texas.

A Q&A with Ariel Ruiz Soto from the Migration Policy Institute on Central America

Ruiz Soto talks about a new region-wide survey on Central American migration and why people choose to migrate or stay home.

Families Still Seeking Justice Nearly a Decade After Fatal Helicopter Shooting

If the Texas border was a war zone … then the men who died on Oct. 25, 2012, were the war’s first known casualties.

Barbarians and Butterflies: Part 1

How a Texas butterfly sanctuary became the center of the resistance against Trump, Steve Bannon and the right-wing agenda at the border.

A Q&A with Carlos Spector, El Paso Immigration Attorney and Human Rights Defender

Spector, who specializes in Mexican asylum cases, said he expects more human rights defenders will request asylum after border opens this month to people with travel visas.

On ‘Remain in Mexico’ and Leaving the Biden Administration: A Podcast Interview with Stephanie Leutert

"There’s no clearly articulated vision of what the next two years is going to look like at the border," says the border policy expert of the Biden administration.

In Arizona, the Environmental Devastation from the Border Wall Is Immense. The Response from the Biden Administration Is Tiny and Slow.

Kate Scott and other border residents are documenting the environmental damage. But Scott says they're left in the dark when it comes to the government's plan for remediation.

If President Biden Pledged ‘Not Another Foot’ of Border Wall, Why Is DHS Still Seizing Land?

Rey Anzaldua and his family spent four years fighting off the Trump administration only to have their land in South Texas seized by the Biden administration to build a border wall.

A Win Against the Wall

A Q&A with Pamela Rivas. The Federal Government Wanted to Build a Border Wall on Her Family’s Land. After 13 Years, Rivas Finally Won It Back.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott Bets on Border Chaos

Republicans Are Counting on the #BorderCrisis for Midterm Gains