News & Politics
July 19, 2021
With Excess Doses, El Paso Is Giving the Vaccine to Mexican Truckers Crossing the Border
As El Paso tries to avoid a new COVID-19 wave, most Juárez residents can't travel into the States for the jab.
Border
News & Politics
June 24, 2021
“When Do They Leave?”: Border Residents Bear the Latest Surge of DPS Troopers
Governor Greg Abbott has sent a thousand state cops into Texas border communities to combat smuggling. But many locals complain that they are more of a nuisance than an effective crime-fighting force.
Country Notes
June 17, 2021
A Forgotten Burial Site in Presidio Tells the Story of a Disappearing Border History
A small group fights to save a cemetery and what remains of a Lipan Apache existence in the Big Bend.
News & Politics
June 12, 2021
What Webb County’s Medical Examiner Has Learned From the Dead
Along the border, forensic experts such as Corinne Stern have dealt with a surge in migrant deaths during the Biden administration.
News & Politics
December 14, 2020
Asylum Seekers in Matamoros Celebrated Joe Biden’s Victory. But the Final Weeks of the Trump Administration Are Bringing Fresh Anxiety.
Following the election, many migrants were hopeful the incoming president would quickly ease the U.S. immigration process, but he has to unravel new restrictions imposed by his predecessor.
News & Politics
April 21, 2020
Children Grappling With Remote Asylum Hearings? With COVID-19, That’s Now the Norm.
Many immigration attorneys have called for hearings to be delayed, but cases are nonetheless proceeding by phone and video.
Border & Immigration
October 24, 2019
What the Hell Is Happening at the Border? (An Occasional Series, October 24 Edition)
A government agency finds human rights abuses, and a five-year high for abuses by Border Patrol agents.
Food & Drink
October 16, 2019
Celebrating the Border’s Fusion of Cuisine and Culture in El Paso and Juárez
A pair of Mexico City’s best-known chefs team up to host benefit dinners that shine a light on all that unites this binational community.
Arts & Entertainment
October 14, 2019
In ‘United Tacos of America,’ Austin Duo Go on the Ultimate Road Trip
Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece connect tacos with community issues in their new show on Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network.
Travel & Outdoors
September 18, 2019
Rich With History, Brownsville Steps Into the Future
A revitalized downtown and a new network of hiking, biking, and paddling trails add to the appeal of this border town by the beach.
Art
August 27, 2019
‘We Exist, We Have Voices, We Have Stories’: A New Festival Confronts the Borderland’s Complexity
Art and activism intersected at the Rio Grande Valley’s first Encuentro en la Frontera.
Film & TV
August 12, 2019
Filmmaker Angie Reza Tures: “It’s a Crazy Time To Be an Artist, To Be a Brown Person”
The El Pasoan reflects on violence in her hometown, and why it’s important for the Latinx community to tell their own stories.
Art
August 2, 2019
Architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello on Reimagining the Border With Seesaws
The creative duo recently went viral for the pink seesaws they installed at the border wall near El Paso.
Border & Immigration
July 23, 2019
The Other Side of the Border
Frustrated by the perception of the border as a lawless land, two native sons embarked on a 1,200-mile journey to capture, through a series of images and letters, the region’s untold stories.
Border & Immigration
May 29, 2019
‘He Started Calling Me Papa Again’: A Separated Migrant Father and Son Reunite After 378 Days Apart
Juan is believed to be the first parent separated from a child under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy to win permanent protection against deportation.
Film & TV
May 1, 2019
Marvel’s ‘Ghost Rider’ TV Series Will Bring Superheroics to the Texas Border
Austin native Gabriel Luna will reprise his role as the title character of the just-announced Hulu original.
Arts & Entertainment
October 20, 2018
Octavio Solis’s Memoir ‘Retablos’ Offers a Vision of El Paso’s Border Beyond the News
Told through vignettes, 'Retablos,' a memoir by playwright Octavio Solis, depicts the myths and realities of a childhood along the border.
Border & Immigration
June 21, 2018
Melania Trump Wears ‘I Really Don’t Care’ Jacket on the Way to McAllen Shelter for Immigrant Children
Her spokesperson claimed 'there was no hidden message.' And it certainly was not hidden.
Border & Immigration
May 4, 2018
‘The Making of a Massacre’ Tells the Story of a DEA Operation Gone Wrong
In the podcast, narrated by ProPublica’s Ginger Thompson, survivors and DEA agents explain living in a town controlled by drug traffickers.
Travel & Outdoors
February 27, 2018
Navigating the Rio Grande’s Remote Lower Canyons
In this second of three installments, we follow a team of filmmakers and adventurers as they travel along the border river.
The Daily Post
September 29, 2017
Art in the Shadow of Trump at the Texas Biennial
The 2017 Texas Biennial offers work from Texans around the state and across the border.
Law Enforcement
September 9, 2016
Cops and Robbers
They were some of the toughest narcs on the border, known for busting smugglers, staging raids, seizing cartel cocaine—and being dirty.
Music
January 21, 2016
Wormed Their Way Through Distant Earth: On The At The Drive-In Reunion
After a short run of festival dates in 2012, the El Paso rock heroes return with new music and a world tour.
Politics & Policy
September 1, 2015
Scott Walker’s Brilliant Border Plan
On guard against those Labatt-drinking invaders from the north.
The Daily Post
July 27, 2015
Dear Mr. Trump: The Border’s Business Benefits You Probably Didn’t See
The U.S.-Mexico border provides plenty of economic benefits for Texas cities. Trump doesn’t want to see that.
News & Politics
November 24, 2014
The Arguments Against Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration
On Thursday, the president said that Congress had left him no choice but to act alone. Conservatives can argue otherwise.
Politics & Policy
November 21, 2014
Friday Afternoon Open Thread
The border surge, extended. Immigration action, executed. Hispanic voters, considered. And more!
August 14, 2014
How the Border Crisis Became Inspiration for a Television Show
How producers of "The Bridge" make entertainment out of grim news.
Politics & Policy
July 22, 2014
Faces of the Border Crisis: The Children
Edras, a sixteen-year-old unaccompanied minor I met in Brownsville, on the 1,400-mile journey from Guatemala.
Politics & Policy
July 21, 2014
National Guard Troops on the Border
It is one thing to institute a DPS “surge” on the border; it is quite another to send the National Guard there, a thousand strong, as Perry intends to do. What is the purpose of sending the Guard to the border? The National Guard is a military force. Is its
Border & Immigration
July 15, 2014
Jose Antonio Vargas, the Nation’s “Most Famous Undocumented Immigrant,” Has Been Released From Detention in McAllen
Vargas visited the Rio Grande Valley last week to learn about the border crisis—then realized he might not be able to leave.
Politics & Policy
July 15, 2014
Faces of the Border Crisis: Othal E. Brand Jr.
One of the few politicians who has directly taken action in securing the border.
Politics & Policy
July 10, 2014
Faces of the Border Crisis: Kevin Pagan
The City of McAllen’s Emergency Management Coordinator works with local charity organizations to try and minimize the local impact of the increased surge of undocumented immigrants.
Politics & Policy
July 9, 2014
Faces of the Border Crisis: Sister Norma Pimentel
One of the immigration crisis’s indispensable leaders is Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
Politics & Policy
June 23, 2014
Meanwhile, about this border situation…
An influx of illegal immigrants from Central America to the Rio Grande Valley is a humanitarian crisis with serious implications for border security.
Politics & Policy
June 15, 2014
Where Are the Videos?
If the Border Patrol really wants to be more transparent, it should release key surveillance footage of questionable shooting incidents.
Border & Immigration
April 15, 2014
What You Should Know About Lupe Treviño
The top law enforcement official in Hidalgo County pled guilty to money laundering charges—here's what that means for the Valley.
Politics & Policy
February 5, 2014
Greg Abbott and the Border
Attorney general Greg Abbott’s $345 million border security plan is almost certainly doomed to fail. The border region is so huge and comprises so many millions of acres that it defies the ability of state government to enforce whatever security issues may arise. Every Republican candidate this election cycle has
Business
January 21, 2013
Rio Grande Valley Tops List of “America’s Poorest Cities”
McAllen and Brownsville occupy the no. 1 and 2 slots on a new list based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey.
Border & Immigration
January 21, 2013
Perry Pens Border Security Op-Ed
Writing in the Austin American-Statesman, the governor says the U.S. is "through the looking glass in terms of border policy," and revives talk of forbidding so-called "sanctuary cities."
January 21, 2013
February 2012 in Photos
Photos of five Texas news stories that captured the nation's attention this month.
Books
January 20, 2013
Pretty Ugly
Why a lavish two-volume attack on the border fence, with photos by Maurice Sherif, misses the mark.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Illegal Immigration (But Didn’t Know Who to Ask)
What’s the deal with the border fence? Are green cards really green? How many undocumented immigrants live in Texas? Any more questions?
Books
January 20, 2013
Bill Broyles and Mark Haynes
On their new book, Desert Duty: On the Line With the U.S. Border Patrol.
Books
January 20, 2013
Desert Duty: On the Line With the U.S. Border Patrol
Read an excerpt from the new book by Bill Broyles and Mark Haynes.
Border & Immigration
January 20, 2013
Soldiers of Misfortune
For as long as the U.S. military has patrolled the border in search of drug smugglers, there has been the possibility that an innocent civilian would be killed. The government insists the chance is worth taking. Tell that to the family of Ezequiel Hernandez, Jr.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Desert of the Dead
While politicians and bureaucrats endlessly debate the best ways to secure our borders, undocumented immigrants are dying to get into America—literally.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
“Beldades” Of the Ball
Every February, on the weekend of Presidents’ Day, the daughters of Laredo’s most prominent families are presented to society in dresses that cost $20,000 or more at a colonial pageant that is the party of the year.