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.
Dora Rodriguez fled the death squads in El Salvador during the civil war. Seeking asylum in the United States in 1980, she nearly died crossing the Sonoran Desert but miraculously survived. She remained in Tucson, Arizona, becoming a social worker and a formidable organizer and advocate for immigrants and for human rights.
Her story embodies multitudes, from social justice activist to social worker to mother, grandmother, and founder of Salvavision, an immigrant advocacy organization in Tucson, and cofounder of Casa de la Esperanza, a migrant resource center in Sasabe, Sonora.
To this impressive list of accomplishments, Rodriguez can now add author. On Saturday, July 5, at 10:00 a.m., her new memoir Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain, cowritten with Abbey Carpenter, will be released during a celebration at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, where the Sanctuary Movement started, spurred by the deaths of 13 of Rodriguez’s traveling partners, who perished in the desert south of Tucson.
In this podcast, Rodriguez talks about fleeing El Salvador, her rescue in the desert, and her role as an advocate and campaigner for human rights at the border. She also talks about what keeps her fighting and how she remains inspired by everyone who works alongside her in the struggle for social justice. “There might be a big ugly, tall wall, but in our hearts, we know we are a community, and we will continue to build bridges,” she says.
Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain (Resilencia Publishing, 2025) is an inspiring book and a must-read at this critical moment in history, as an increasingly repressive U.S. political administration targets immigrant communities across the country.
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.
As immigrant families face detention, shrinking legal protections and the threat of deportation, Camp Hope offers children a rare chance to play, heal and dream. One former camper is headed to an opera conservatory in Italy.
A road trip through Baja California reveals how free trade, migration, and border policy have reshaped Tijuana's landscape, and why the uncertain future of the USMCA invites new questions about what comes next.
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.
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
