The personal, financial, and environmental costs of a border wall in Big Bend, locals revive opposition after Trump's announcement of a refinery in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley fights back after ICE shooting and raids, plus The Border Chronicle is seeking new paid subscribers!
“We love Big Bend the way it is. It does not need to change. We do not feel any danger, and we don’t want it to look like other places. And nothing makes a person who lives out here more mad than the idea of looking at a damn fence.”
Environmental advocates and residents say the long-proposed refinery threatens air quality and public health in a region already ringed by heavy industry.
The Tohono O’odham leader and thinker describes the May 18 killing of Raymond Mattia and the long context of border militarization that led to it.
We’d like to give a special welcome to our new audio editor Steev Hise and give a huge thanks to Hannah Gaber for her work with us over the last several months. As always in this volatile arena of journalism, it is hard for us to do anything coherent without our team behind the scenes!
The Tohono O’odham leader and thinker describes the May 18 killing of Raymond Mattia and the long context of border militarization that led to it.
On May 18, Raymond Mattia stepped out of his house after he saw the U.S. Border Patrol arrive. He lived in the small community of Ali Chuk (also known as Menagers Dam), located about one mile from the U.S.-Mexico international boundary on the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona. Mattia had called the Border Patrol a few hours earlier to report people moving through his land. He was about two feet from his front door, witnesses said, when agents fired, hitting him 38 times.
Tohono O’odham leader and thinker Amy Juan joins us today to discuss what happened from an on-the-ground perspective, drawing from the testimony of Ali Chuk’s community members. She also explains the context of the incident, in what she calls “one the most militarized communities” on the Nation, where the Border Patrol has been increasing its presence for decades.
Amy has been one of my go-to people on border issues for more than decade. I met her after she helped found the organization Tohono O’odham Hemajkam Rights Network to raise awareness about and take action on the Border Patrol’s militarization of her community. Now she is the administrative manager at the San Xavier Cooperative Farm and the tribal and community liaison in Arizona for the International Indian Treaty Council, where she focuses on border issues, among other things. To note, Amy was also the guest for The Border Chronicle’s first ever podcast in September 2021.
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“We love Big Bend the way it is. It does not need to change. We do not feel any danger, and we don’t want it to look like other places. And nothing makes a person who lives out here more mad than the idea of looking at a damn fence.”
Environmental advocates and residents say the long-proposed refinery threatens air quality and public health in a region already ringed by heavy industry.
ICE raids and detentions, together with a high-profile killing, have led Rio Grand Valley residents to mobilize—including even some local Republicans.
Walking from a blasted mountain top--a planned site for new border wall construction--to a makeshift military camp along the border in a remote part of southern Arizona led to a tense yet revelatory moment.
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
