The Border Chronicle is a weekly newsletter by Melissa del Bosque and Todd Miller.
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It was about 10:30 in the morning on August 14 when the silver SUV rumbled down Tres Bellotas Road, about seven miles north of the U.S.-Mexico divide in southern Arizona. Everyone in the vehicle was tired. There were four people, including the acclaimed author Reyna Grande, who was also the executive producer of the documentary they had been working on all morning about the Samaritans, a humanitarian aid organization. They intend the documentary to be a feature-length sequel to the short called Shura, codirected by David Damian Figueroa, who was also in the vehicle along with Randy J. Mayer, the pastor of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in southern Arizona, and a production crew member who wishes not to be named.
Their vehicle passed a green-striped Border Patrol truck. Mayer waved at the agent. Though their missions were often at odds, maintaining a cordial relationship with the enforcement agency has long been the norm for the Samaritans, who have been working in the southern Arizona borderlands for two decades helping migrants in distress. As they passed by, Figueroa, who was sitting in the passenger seat, noticed something. The agent did not wave back. That was the first sign that something was up.
Read the rest of this piece in the link in the comments at The Border Chronicle
Title:
Acclaimed Latino Author and Filmmaker Detained and Accused: Racial Profiling on the U.S.-Mexico Border
The photo is by Reyna Grande, while she and David Damian Figueroa were detained in the back of the Border Patrol vehicle.
🦂🔥Friends join us for this event at 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 7 in Nogales, Arizona. We're going to talk with residents of Ambos Nogales about what life was like before 9/11 and the border militarization buildup. It's the kickoff of a new collaborative oral history project at the U.S-Mexico border. It's a free event sponsored by Sierra Club, Voices from the Border, La Linea art gallery, the Patagonia Museum, Primeria Alta Historical Society Museum, and We Love Nogales.🦂🔥
New in The Border Chronicle 🦂🔥
The Palestine Laboratory and the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Q&A with Antony Loewenstein
Will the mass slaughter in Gaza result in more profitable surveillance and weapons on U.S. borders? Sure looks like it, says the Australian author.
"What you see in Gaza and also globally—I’ve seen this for years—is that Israel sells itself not just as a model technologically but also as a model ideologically. And the U.S.—here along the U.S.-Mexico border—is buying this technology, because it’s been tested in Palestine," says Lowenstein.
A visionary in the borderlands has passed away. Please read Melissa del Bosque's moving tribute to Eduardo "Eddie" Canales, and how his humanitarian efforts saved countless lives in the remote South Texas ranch lands.
The article begins like this:
"When a desperate family, searching for a missing loved one, felt as if they had no one in the world to help them, they’d soon find they had Eduardo “Eddie” Canales, founder of the South Texas Human Rights Center.
From the first time I met Eddie in 2013, when he began working in the remote ranchlands of Brooks County, Texas, until his death in July from pancreatic cancer, he was always busy, whether it be on the phone, soothing families of the missing, or receiving them at the center to launch search and rescue operations. He also placed water stations on busy migration corridors and worked with forensic anthropologists to identify those who had died in the rugged South Texas terrain.
South Texas in the summer is brutally hot and humid. Eddie began his humanitarian work in Brooks County at age 65, and he always seemed invincible, walking the sandy terrain in 100-degree-plus heat to find a missing person or deliver a water barrel. He was a bear of a man, with close-cropped white hair and a big grin, which he’d often deploy with startling success against his toughest critics, many of them ranchers in Brooks County, who were suspicious of the outsider from Corpus Christi with a labor union past.
It’s hard to imagine life in the borderlands without Eddie. Before he died, the longtime South Texas activist and organizer shared his vision for the future with key allies to expand the work of identifying missing migrants to a statewide identification center. I can’t think of a better legacy for a man who spent his life ensuring that the most marginalized be treated with dignity, even in death."
To read the rest see link in the comments.
New in The Border Chronicle🦂🔥
A Visionary in the Borderlands
While he lived, Eduardo "Eddie" Canales saved countless lives in the remote South Texas ranchlands. A statewide center in Texas to identify missing migrants would be a fitting legacy.
"It’s hard to imagine life in the borderlands without Eddie. Before he died, the longtime South Texas activist and organizer shared his vision for the future with key allies to expand the work of identifying missing migrants to a statewide identification center. I can’t think of a better legacy for a man who spent his life ensuring that the most marginalized be treated with dignity, even in death."
🦂Read, listen and subscribe to all of our latest at theborderchronicle.com (link in bio) 🦂
Last week I was informed that I was playing “Russian Roulette with fascism” for critiquing Harris and Biden on border/immigration.
It seems to me that the tiring “critique = a vote for Trump” narrative needs to shift to internal pressure in the party to change its stance. Cuz now's the time.
This is one of the points I make below in my latest at The Border Chronicle.
It is called "The Border Cold War: Election Tension and the Bipartisan Consensus". As Democrats campaign to the right of Trump on the border, a cold war bubbles up from below.
Link in comments.
New in The Border Chronicle 🦂🔥
Up Against Giants: A Q&A with Rebekah Hinojosa on Fighting for Environmental Justice in South Texas
Hinojosa talks about what it's like to organize against some of the wealthiest, most powerful industries in the world, and win.
"These are huge, historic victories that are the result of 10 years of community organizing and a diverse coalition of people from the valley working together. And we’re going to continue pressuring banks, investors, and insurance companies to pull out of these LNG projects."
🦂Read, listen and subscribe to all of our latest at theborderchronicle.com🦂 (link in bio).
Wondering about DNA extraction on the border? Wonder no more. Melissa del Bosque has great article about what's been going on... for the last four years (see graphic below). Also, learn about how FaceBook censored (AI censorship? possibly) The Border Chronicle and will not let us post our August 1 article. All written up here. Link in comments!
New in The Border Chronicle 🔥🦂
Many Asylum Seekers Are Being Expelled, But Not Before Giving Up Their DNA
CBP’s sweeping DNA program places asylum seekers’ genetic profiles in a massive criminal investigations database without their knowledge.
CBP’s sweeping DNA program places asylum seekers’ genetic profiles in a massive criminal investigations database without their knowledge.
Had a wonderful time in El Paso Friday at the Border Hero award ceremony. Very honored to receive the Border Storyteller Award and get a shout out for our work at The Border Chronicle. Had a great time with my good friends Carlos and Sandra Spector who are longtime human right defenders in El Paso and true border heroes.
🦂🔥Just 2 days left on our discounted annual & monthly subscriptions at The Border Chronicle 🦂🔥
That's a 20 % discount. July only. Subscribe now and support local, independent journalism from the border.
Original Reporting and Analysis from the U.S.-Mexico Border. Click to read The Border Chronicle, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
New in The Border Chronicle 🔥🦂 The Border Chronicle’s Third Annual Summer Reading List (and author interviews on our podcast) 🔥
We’ll be back in August. Stay hydrated, read a book (or two), and sign up for our 20 percent monsoon special subscriber discount—July only!
We’ll be back in August. Stay hydrated, read a book (or two), and sign up for our 20 percent monsoon special subscriber discount—July only!
New in The Border Chronicle Unbuild Walls: A Podcast with Silky Shah 🔥🦂
With tonight’s presidential debate, it's the exact right time to learn more about the enforcement-prison-deportation nexus. Shah’s vital new book "Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition" offers a vision out of this mess.
With tonight’s debate, it's the exact right time to learn more about the enforcement-prison-deportation nexus. And how Shah’s vital new book offers a vision out of this mess.
New in The Border Chronicle 🔥🦂Fix the Asylum System, Protect Human Rights: A Podcast with Adam Isacson
The longtime migration expert talks about solutions, and what's missing in the debate around Biden's executive order to restrict asylum.
The longtime migration expert talks about solutions, and what's missing in the debate around Biden's executive order to restrict asylum.
The Many Scandals of the Border Industrial Complex
As election campaigns heat up, the true state of the border is revealed in record budgets, record contracts, increased border deaths, and the barring of press from the Border Security Expo in El Paso.
Link to article in comments.
Images: Border Patrol dog food advertisement, a graphic showing increasing contracts to private companies from CBP and ICE, and a graphic forecasting the homeland security global market from now to 2031.
New in The Border Chronicle🔥🦂The Many Scandals of the Border Industrial Complex
As election campaigns heat up, the true state of the border is revealed in record budgets, record contracts, increased border deaths, and the barring of press from the Border Security Expo in El Paso.
As election campaigns heat up, the true state of the border is revealed in record budgets, record contracts, increased border deaths, and the barring of press from the Border Security Expo in El Paso.
New in The Border Chronicle by Pablo de la Rosa 🔥 Water Is Running out in the Rio Grande. This Report Has Solutions, but Will Stakeholders Act?🦂
A Q&A with Water Policy Expert Kathy Robb on her solutions-oriented report that builds off successes of Colorado river basin negotiations.
A Q&A with Water Policy Expert Kathy Robb on her solutions-oriented report that builds off successes of Colorado river basin negotiations.
This Election Year’s Top Three False Border and Immigration Narratives
Last week, I asked immigration and border expert David Bier what he thought were the top three false narratives proclaimed, promoted, and propagated during this year’s campaign season. His response: (1) “Donald Trump had the most secure border in America’s history,” (2) “Joe Biden opened America’s borders to illegal immigration,” and (3) “Recent immigration is helping Democrats.” From there we tackle each point individually in a conversation that will hopefully also assist you in navigating your discussions about the border and immigration, discussions that will inevitably intensify during the next several months.
Link in comments!
This Election Year’s Top Three False Border and Immigration Narratives: A Q&A with David Bier of The Cato Institute
Take a stroll down False Claim Lane with us today. It will certainly come in handy for all the border and immigration debates you will hear in the next few months.
Take a stroll down False Claim Lane with us today. It will certainly come in handy for all the border and immigration debates you will hear in the next few months
Melissa del Bosque with great on-the-ground reporting at the border in the aftermath of Joe Biden's executive order that severely restricted asylum last week. The aftermath included, as Melissa reports, a Border Patrol vehicle crashing into the border wall while possibly (most likely) transporting asylum seekers, see picture below. See all this in The Border Chronicle, link to the article in the comments.
New in The Border Chronicle 🔥🦂 "Tenemos Fe": Migrants Still Arriving, Despite Biden's New Executive Order
Humanitarian groups expect more uncertainty and suffering with new policy changes at the border.
Humanitarian groups expect more uncertainty and suffering with new policy changes at the border.
Border Chronicle Breaking News: Border Patrol Agent Airlifted After Truck Slams into Border Wall
At least four asylum seekers also injured after two Border Patrol trucks collided Friday, and one crashed into border wall.
At least four asylum seekers also injured after two Border Patrol trucks collided Friday, and one slammed into border wall.
A beautiful reflection by Jamie Ann Wilson in The Border Chronicle on this year's Migrant Trail Walk. The walk began on Memorial day in Sasabe and ended on Sunday in Tucson. That's seven days and 75 miles during one of the hottest times of the year. Read on for more:
https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/remembering-the-dead-on-the-migrant
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Support our work today and elevate independent border journalism.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. We believe that now, more than ever, it’s vital to be on the ground reporting, analyzing, and challenging the disinformation being spread by antidemocratic forces.
But it’s tough these days for journalism. Publications of all sizes are closing around the country in the midst of one of the most consequential elections in history.
As we near our publication’s three-year anniversary and celebrate the people and communities whose stories we’ve had the privilege of sharing, we’re asking you to help us reach The Border Chronicle’s original funding goal.
Find out how you can help: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/help-us-make-the-border-chronicle
Or subscribe now: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/subscribe
We’re proud of our work and we hope you’ll continue reading about the communities in the big and beautiful U.S.-Mexico border region and staying informed. Thanks for watching and supporting The Border Chronicle!
Re-upping this Border Chronicle post w/news of impending Biden executive order at the border Tuesday 🦂🔥
Can President Biden Really Shut Down Asylum at the Border? A Q&A with Immigration Expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Spoiler alert: Biden can't "close down" the border. Read on for more facts and what to expect after Biden's announcement to restrict asylum at the border.
Spoiler alert: No, he can't. But he'll probably issue an executive order anyway.
Check out this conversation I had with the great Petra Molnar about border technology for her new book The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Link in comments. And the picture is what appears to be a new metal track placed on the Nogales border wall to create a sensor system, so the barrier actually will have "eyes".
From the Border Security Expo: A robodog, Elbit Systems, a panel, and an artificial intelligence selfie. More photos in a link in the comments from a Reporter's Notebook I did for The Border Chronicle.
New in The Border Chronicle podcast 🔥🦂The Walls Have Eyes: A Podcast with Petra Molnar & Todd Miller
If you want to learn about border technology, listen to this fascinating conversation about Molnar's new book on surviving migration in the age of artificial intelligence.
If you want to learn about border technology, listen to this conversation about a new book on surviving migration in the age of artificial intelligence.
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The stakes couldn’t be higher. We believe that now, more than ever, it’s vital to be on the ground reporting, analyzing, and challenging the disinformation being spread by antidemocratic forces. But it’s tough these days for journalism. Publications of all sizes are closing around the country in the midst of one of the most consequential elections in history. As we near our publication’s three-year anniversary and celebrate the people and communities whose stories we’ve had the privilege of sharing, we’re asking you to help us reach The Border Chronicle’s original funding goal. Find out how you can help: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/help-us-make-the-border-chronicle Or subscribe now: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/subscribe We’re proud of our work and we hope you’ll continue reading about the communities in the big and beautiful U.S.-Mexico border region and staying informed. Thanks for watching and supporting The Border Chronicle!
On the approaching one-year anniversary of the deadliest fire in a government-run migrant detention facility in Mexico’s history, a new binational investigation disproves the official account of what happened. The Border Chronicle's Melissa del Bosque collaborated as project leader in her role as investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports on this months-long bilingual investigation released this week, “Smoke and Lies: Uncovering the truth about the Ciudad Juárez fire” by Lighthouse Reports, La Verdad Juárez and El Paso Matters reveals that keys to the men’s cell were at the facility throughout the fire, despite officials, including Mexico’s president, claiming otherwise. The investigation’s findings disprove this official narrative and support demands for accountability and justice by victims and their families of the Mexican government.
It’s been almost a year since the U.S. government rolled out the CBPOne app, which was meant to reduce the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Caitlyn Yates, a PhD student in sociocultural anthropology at the University of British Columbia, joins us from Panama, where she studies the migration flow through the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous migratory crossings in the world. This year, the jungle crossing will have seen a historic number of migrants, she says, most of whom are on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. Listen to the episode in full at theborderchronicle.com
In Todd Miller’s interview with Al Otro Lado's executive director, Erika Pinheiro describes the hyper-distorted fear mongering narrative of overwhelm as “a situation that's intentionally created by border patrol, in particular, to feed this narrative of overwhelm and open borders into support for the restrictions on asylum”. Listen to the podcast episode: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/prepare-yourselves-for-the-2024-border
Al Otro Lado's executive director, Erika Pinheiro, discusses what’s to come this election year: more of the CBP One app and open-air border prisons, along with a hyper-distorted fearmongering narrative of overwhelm. Listen to the whole episode: https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/prepare-yourselves-for-the-2024-border
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