Detention facilities provide economic stability for many rural towns.
Borderlands
Posted inArticles
Natural gas exports to Mexico are surging
A major new energy export market quietly emerges as Mexico takes advantage of low-priced U.S. gas.
Posted inJune 22, 2015: Dust to Dust
A border crossing gone wrong
Review of ‘The Jaguar’s Children’ by John Vaillant.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
The Latest: A bill to open public land to Border Patrol
Sen. John McCain proposes more immediate access at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Posted inArticles
New border security bill would roll back public lands protections
Sen. John McCain’s proposal would give Border Patrol more immediate access to sensitive borderlands.
Posted inArticles
Unwanted California tires end up in rivers and beaches
But efforts to use the trash as building materials in Mexico offer new hope.
Posted inArticles
A progress report on the Colorado River pulse
Researchers are sifting through the impacts of last spring’s release.
Posted inOctober 13, 2014: Charles Bowden's Fury
Charles Bowden’s Fury
The Southwest loses its strongest voice.
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
Border out of control
National security runs roughshod over the Arizona wild.
Posted inApril 28, 2014: Two-Wheel Revolution
The Latest: Colorado River Delta update
BackstoryOver the last 50 years, the Colorado River has rarely reached its mouth in the Sea of Cortez. The giant dams on its main stem and the water demands of some 35 million people have largely dried out its vast delta, which once sustained cottonwood and willow forests and armies of fish and birds. But […]
Posted inGoat
Four women joyride the flood that will revive the Colorado River Delta
The guides warned us, of course. Or they sort of did. It was sometime after the river outfitter’s shuttle van had passed through the latticework of gates and fences that guards the steep, hairpinned road to the boat-launch at the base of the Hoover Dam, and possibly right before we realized that we had left […]
Posted inArticles
Veteran photographer shines light on US immigration
Death and deportation at the US-Mexico border, and lives after crossings.
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
Chuck Bowden’s border war
Nearly a decade on, a writer’s look at the futility of the war on drugs still matters.
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
Perseverance
An immigrant’s journey: Dust, flies, and the long walk
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Riding the Line
Ruben Rivera leans his elbow on the side of a pickup truck. His wife and brother-in-law stand in the truck bed to get a better view of the race. Rivera’s horse, Misterio – “Mystery” he explains, rather unnecessarily – is running in the third race. “But on the other side.” We are officially in Mexico […]