A resistance sign and flag of the Tohono O’odham Nation on August 28, 2026, near a permanent camp to protest border wall construction on tribal land. (Photo credit: Mike Wilson)

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A terrible event with ramifications that still ripple throughout the borderlands. As someone who covered the attacks from the border in McAllen, Texas, as a young reporter for The McAllen Monitor, I have documented the aftermath over the last two decades, including the signing of the Patriot Act, the Secure Fence Act, and the formation of the Department of Homeland Security. Five years ago, we launched The Border Chronicle on this date because September 11 signified the beginning of irreparable change for borderland communities, which Todd very eloquently covered in his first piece for The Border Chronicle. That very same month in 2021, we also interviewed Amy Juan, a Tohono O’ odham tribal member and longtime activist against border militarization on tribal land. Five years later, in 2026, we’ve come full circle with Amy Juan and other Tohono O’ odham tribal members, once again, fighting further militarization—the building of not one, but two 30-foot walls on their sovereign land. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to watch Erin Patrick O’Connor’s video report this week from the Tohono O’odham Nation where tribal members have set up a permanent protest camp.

On this 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, one thing is clear: “border security” has morphed into a multi-billion-dollar industry and a gargantuan monster similar to the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961: “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist,” he said in his farewell address. “We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”