Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Borderlands
Posted inArticles
Border wall construction in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a travesty
The barrier divides the monument and nearby wildlife refuges.
Posted inAugust 5, 2019: From Prison to Fireline
Who pays for infrastructure in Borderland colonias?
In places like Vado, New Mexico, good roads are hard to find.
Posted inSeptember 2, 2019: In Bad Faith
Letters from Miguel: ‘I felt I had no option but to leave’
How my correspondence with an immigrant detainee has given me hope.
Posted inArticles
Immigrant detention centers grow as services lag behind
The federal government is giving contracts to agencies with checkered pasts and denying legally required aid.
Posted inArticles
Federal and tribal coalitions challenge Canadian mining
‘It’s about British Columbia being a really bad actor as an upstream neighbor that pollutes our water.’
Posted inJuly 21, 2019: A Radical Return
Renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty, six decades later
How will bolstered support for tribal sovereignty and the environment change the U.S.-Canada agreement?
Posted inJune 24, 2019: Losing Lake Coeur d'Alene
Interior Department border deployments are mired in secrecy
Law enforcement agents guarding wildlife refuges have been sent to the border, leaving public lands more exposed.
Posted inArticles
Greyhound passenger sues Border Patrol over Spokane interrogation
Comedian and asylee Mohanad Elshieky was called a lying ‘illegal’ while being questioned about his citizenship status at a bus stop.
Posted inArticles
Watchdogs hit a wall in accessing once-available immigration data
A Q&A on how the Justice Department is limiting access to crucial information on migrants.
Posted inArticles
The grassroots groups helping asylum seekers on the border
‘We had no choice but to make it work.’
Posted inApril 15, 2019: Scene of the Crime
An Arizona border sheriff confronts the wall
President Trump’s pitch is ‘a sound bite, not a cogent public policy position.’
Posted inArticles
Can stories help us understand the realities of migration?
In her new novel, Valeria Luiselli explores the possibilities and limits of writing about the border crisis.
Posted inMay 27, 2019: Public Pushback
Militias, MAGA activists and one border town’s complicated resistance
How Arivaca, Arizona, became a magnet for anti-immigrant activists – and what locals did next.
Posted inMarch 18, 2019: Arizona's Wild Horse Paradox
Police-state tactics at the U.S.-Mexico border
The real crisis at the border is of Trump’s own making.
Posted inMarch 4, 2019: El Nuevo Movimiento
Humanitarian aid is being criminalized at the border
Deterrence strategies have turned increasingly punitive for immigrants and activists.
Posted inFebruary 18, 2019: Barriers to Entry
The West’s monarch migration is disappearing
Fall counts show a 99 percent decline in the butterfly population since the ‘80s.
Posted inFebruary 18, 2019: Barriers to Entry
The education crisis for children of deported parents
In Tijuana, an upstart model tries to address the challenges of educating U.S. kids who relocated to keep their families together.
Posted inFebruary 18, 2019: Barriers to Entry
Border security will always be elusive
The Borderlands have long been governed by impermanent and shifting policies.
Posted inArticles
The stories that defined the West in 2018
The year in essays, analysis and investigations from across the Western U.S.