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.
A detailed, intimate, frank (and, be warned, often explicit) conversation with the 'Border Hacker' authors about how they met, why they decided to write a book, and how they are living under threat.
One of the best books I read in 2022 was the engrossing and page-turning Border Hacker: A Tale of Treachery, Trafficking, and Two Friends on the Run. Some of you probably heard the interview The Border Chronicle did with author and anthropologist Levi Vonk in June.
Although we do encourage you to listen to the previous interview (and to read the book!), please don’t worry if you haven’t. Today’s interview stands on its own two feet. This time we also feature fellow author Axel Kirschner. Axel was born in Guatemala but grew up on Long Island and was deported as an adult. We are proud to say that this is the first interview Axel has done since Border Hacker was published in April.
Immediately after the book’s publication, Axel had to go into hiding because of threats on his life. Levi had to flee Mexico City for similar reasons, which they both explain in detail during the interview. The book, Axel says, is “costing me my life.”
But that’s not all they talk about. They describe how they met in the chaos of a migrant caravan in 2015, and how they developed a deep and enduring friendship. They talk about how they decided to collaborate on a book and why they felt the need to document what they experienced. They talk about how the book has been received, respond to critiques, and discuss the book’s place in the world. Although the conversation is intimate and frank, be warned that there is also often explicit language.
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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.”
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.
"I understand what people are going through because I lived it myself."
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
