Do you have questions about the recent buoy debacle on the Rio Grande? Our reporting has you covered, plus an important new hire at The Border Chronicle, and our new project Wall Watch.
As floodwaters swept hundreds of one-ton border buoys downstream, international bridges closed, commerce slowed, and officials struggled to get answers from DHS about a project advancing despite local opposition, environmental concerns, and treaty questions.
Hundreds of massive orange buoys staged for a controversial DHS floating barrier project broke free near Eagle Pass and are now drifting toward Laredo, threatening bridges, commerce, drinking water supplies and downstream communities.
Hathaway, a former DEA supervisory agent, on the failure of US drug policy, legalization, and the murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena
Sheriff David Hathaway is a fifth-generation rancher from the U.S.-Mexico border in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. He’s also a former supervisory agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, and he participated in the DEA’s largest-ever homicide investigation, Operación Leyenda, to track down the killers of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in the 1980s.
Hathaway’s participation in Camarena’s murder investigation, and his discovery that the CIA was not only smuggling drugs but also involved in Camarena’s death in Mexico, led Hathaway to conclude that America’s war on drugs is a failure, which spurs government corruption on both sides of the border as illustrated (yet again) in the current trial of former Mexican anti-drug official Genaro Garcia Luna in New York.
Hathaway speaks frankly about U.S. drug policy, the investigation into Camarena’s death (which is now featured in a four-part documentary called The Last Narc on Amazon), and the restorative justice programs* that Santa Cruz County has spearheaded to reduce drug demand in its communities.
*Constructing Circles of Peace, Hope Incorporated, Wellness Connections, and Mariposa Community Health Center.
The second part of this podcast with Hathaway which delves into border militarization, the recent shipping container wall boondoggle, and “fuzzy” border statistics will air next week. Stay tuned!
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.
Border Chronicle founders, Todd and Melissa, talk about how law enforcement surveillance, high-speed chases instigated by Border Patrol, unwarranted searches and seizures, and other heavy-handed policing that border communities have endured for decades has now moved into the interior of the country.
This conversation, hosted by Todd Miller, about a great borderlands adobe brick building project is going great, until Jacques Servin—of the political performance artist trickster and activist troupe called the Yes Men—fails to grasp the meaning of the term "border security."
Gabriela Rangel, executive director of Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art, was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. As a
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
