Blockading the Border: A Q&A with Timothy Dunn on the 30th Anniversary of Operation Hold the Line

The sociologist explains how the 1993 border operation remade immigration enforcement. And how now “it’s basically just political posturing, often framed by a good deal of racism.”

The third day of Operation Hold the Line in September 1993 when the U.S. Border Patrol blockaded a protest on the international bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez.. (Photo credit: El Paso Times).

On the U.S.-Mexico border between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, soldiers from the Texas National Guard, in full military regalia, with helmets and weapons, s…