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.
Many are turning to Mexican folk healing in the borderlands in this uncertain era, and Cabeza de Vaca reincarnated as a cactus? An irreverent, surreal documentary perfect for our times.
Welcome to this week’s Border Chronicle roundup where we feature our work at The Border Chronicle and highlight important news from across the U.S.-Mexico border region.
This is Melissa del Bosque, cofounder of The Border Chronicle along with Todd Miller. Last week both Todd and I were out of the country, taking a break from the insanity of the U.S. news cycle. We left last Friday’s roundup in the capable hands of Caroline Tracey, our wonderful environmental and arts&culture reporter.
For the last year, we’ve had the great honor of working with Caroline and Pablo de la Rosa, who is based in South Texas. It’s not easy covering almost 2,000 miles of border. Todd and I started The Border Chronicle in 2021 and for three years we were the sole writers for the newsletter and podcast. Caroline and Pablo have allowed us to expand our coverage and bring greater depth to our work across the region. We want to continue getting better and bigger as we approach our fifth year in 2026.
This is why we have big plans for transition and expansion in 2026, which we will reveal as we get closer to the end of the year.
But first we need you! Our reporting is almost entirely supported by our paid subscribers. On Oct 3, we reported that The Border Chronicle lost several paid subscribers due to churn, which is usually expired credit cards, people deciding not to renew, or simply forgetting to renew. We want to send a big thanks to those subscribers who came to our aid — especially two wonderful subscribers — who responded with generous donations to make up for our losses in subscription revenue. We greatly appreciate your support! It’s a huge morale booster during these dark times when fact-based journalism reported by humans is being attacked by billionaire-run tech companies and the Trump administration.
If you’re a free subscriber who listens to our podcast and reads The Border Chronicle, we would greatly benefit from your paid support now as we transition into a more robust media outlet in 2026. We want to keep Caroline and Pablo on staff and also make other key staff hires to expand our community engagement and coverage. If you value our independent work at the border, a paid subscription is just $6 a month or a discounted $60 a year, to support our reporting at The Border Chronicle.
Yes! I want to support The Border Chronicle’s fact-based, independent reporting at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Not ready to subscribe? You can also send a donation via PayPal to The Border Chronicle.
Thank you so much for reading and have a good weekend!
Melissa
Pablo De La Rosa
Caroline Tracey
Border grassroots organizing is winning in July; Who pays the price for Brownsville's tech and industrial boom? And Tijuana Art Week and NAFTA's lasting influence on Baja's landscape. Plus more!
Happy 250th America! In a new podcast, Melissa and Todd discuss surveillance, and unconstitutional policing migrating into the country's interior, and ancient rock art faces demolition in Texas. Plus more news from across the border region.
The efforts to preserve the desert's iconic plants, resist the destruction of ancient trees, and deal with the harassing border machine, even after deportation.
Latinos with DACA say they're being targeted in Texas, and a review of new Chicano vampire fiction by Laredo author Ito Romo, plus a rally in southern Arizona this weekend to save ancient cottonwoods from border wall destruction, and more!
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
