Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup and Video Conversation about Border Militarization: May 30

An informative video conversation with border militarization expert Timothy Dunn, what the hell is Elon Musk up to at Starbase?, and a solidarity walk begins from the border to Tucson.

By The Border Chronicle, Timothy Dunn & Todd Miller

●

Border Militarization

●

May 30, 2025

Watch Todd’s video Q&A (above) with sociologist Timothy Dunn, one of the top experts on border militarization in the United States. Dunn talks about the new phase of militarization happening right now at the border, and how it fits into a larger history of military involvement with border policing. Dunn’s books include The Militarization of the U.S. Mexico Border 1978-1992: Low Intensity Doctrine Comes Home, Blockading the Border and Human Rights: The El Paso Operation that Remade Immigration Enforcement, and The Handbook on Human Security, Borders and Migration. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions, Dunn answered them all.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

How Musk’s Starbase Could Become the Most Powerful City in Texas

“In Beauty May I Walk”: A Reflection on Walking from the Border to Tucson for 22 Years

More News from the Border:

Trump’s military zones could complicate search for missing migrants near US-Mexico border El Paso Times

Danger by Design: How Climate Injustice Harms Displaced People at the U.S.-Mexico Border IRAP, Las Americas

ICE detains people after immigration court hearings in San Diego: ‘Bait and switch’ Capital & Main

Border Patrol arrested a Detroit student on a field trip. He now faces deportation. Detroit Free Press

Authors

The Border Chronicle

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.