An expanding definition of "terror" ignites a more bellicose extension of the U.S. border abroad. A history of labor and mining and community written on borderlands' gravestones. And The Border Chronicle in Douglas and with Amy Goodman this coming week.
Just what did U.S. officials at the Border Security Expo earlier this month say about U.S. foreign policy, border extension, and a revival of the war on terror?
Mining operations have been in the center of borderland labor conflicts for more than a century. These photos tell the moving story of one such town, through its cemetery.
Armed civilians who believe that undocumented migrants are 'invaders' could be enforcing the Texas immigration proposal, says Libal, a consultant for Human Rights Watch.
Texas is once again in the throes of its biennial legislative session, which will wrap up at the end of May. One of the more dangerously authoritarian bills introduced this session is HB 20, authored by Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), which would create armed citizen militias under the control of the governor. Their mission would be to hunt down undocumented people. Bob Libal, a longtime immigration and criminal justice reform activist based in Austin, attended the bill’s hearing on April 13 at the Texas Legislature, where nearly 300 people signed up in opposition. Despite this, at least 52 Republicans in the Texas House have signed on to HB 20. Libal, now a U.S. consultant for the international nonprofit Human Rights Watch, talks about how the passage of HB 20 would set a dangerous authoritarian precedent. “They would be setting up a system where people who believe that undocumented migrants are invaders could be enforcing this Texas-specific immigration proposal—and they’d be armed,” he says.
Torre Centinela, a Mexican surveillance hub that will share intelligence with U.S. and Texas law enforcement is slated to open soon. Olivares discusses his investigation on Torre Centinela and the private corporation running it.
Todd witnesses a border security spending frenzy at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, a Q&A with the author of a new book on El Paso's importance to U.S. history and immigration, and much more!
With more than 40 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border now under military authority, we discuss our Border Chronicle/The War Horse investigation examining this unprecedented expansion of federal power and its impact on border communities.
As federal officials fast-track billions in border wall construction and floating buoy barriers, local leaders and residents say they’re in the dark, and fear the worst.
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
