Border & Immigration
August 11, 2022
Why Are Border Smugglers Trafficking Bologna?
The tons of contraband lunch meat seized at the U.S.-Mexico border tell us something about the market value of nostalgia.
Border
Made in Texas
July 15, 2022
The Border Inspires This Jewelrymaker’s Designs
Haydee Alonso’s diverse influences include Mexican cookies, strong women, and the Rio Grande.
Books
July 14, 2022
Is Fernando A. Flores the Gabriel García Márquez of the Texas Borderlands? Or the Kurt Vonnegut?
In his new short story collection, the Austin writer offers a fantastical view of the Texas borderlands. Just don’t call it “magical realism.”
Books
July 14, 2022
Sergio Troncoso Is Making Sure That Texas Literature Represents All of Texas
In his latest novel and as president of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Ysleta-raised writer is pushing us to rethink the Lone Star literary canon.
Sports
May 2, 2022
A Day at the Races in Presidio
The quiet border town hosts amateur drag races at the Presidio International Raceway, featuring anything from souped-up muscle cars to pickup trucks.
Books
April 26, 2022
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith Was a Literary Chronicler of Texas’s Borderlands
The award-winning writer and professor, who died April 19 at 93, was often compared to William Faulkner, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Politics & Policy
April 20, 2022
Greg Abbott Tried to Act Presidentially. He Might Have Run Afoul of the Law.
A legal expert says the governor’s effective blockading of the border could have violated the U.S. Constitution.
Politics & Policy
April 15, 2022
Greg Abbott’s Unintentionally Warm Welcome of Asylum-Seekers
The governor’s move to bus migrants to D.C. may be an attempt to stick it to Joe Biden, but it’s playing out in ways he didn’t anticipate.
Film & TV
March 21, 2022
‘What We Leave Behind’ Was the Surprise Masterpiece of SXSW
El Paso filmmaker Iliana Sosa’s feature documentary debut follows her Mexican grandfather, reflecting on life, legacy, and connection.
By
Cat Cardenas
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Libations
January 11, 2022
Three Texas Brands Pay Homage to the Spirits of the Desert
These iterations of tequila, pechuga, and sotol—all made from desert plants found in Texas and Mexico—are indicative of the trans-border spirit.
Border & Immigration
October 21, 2021
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on the Crisis in Texas and Why Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star Concerns Him
The Del Rio–raised law enforcement official chatted with ‘Texas Monthly’ about the situation in his hometown and immigration enforcement across the state.
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.
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.
Politics & Policy
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.
By
Cat Cardenas
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Border & Immigration
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.
By
Cat Cardenas
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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.
By
Dan Solomon
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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.
Film & TV
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.
By
Wes Ferguson
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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.
By
Cat Cardenas
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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.
By
Cat Cardenas
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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.
By
Dan Solomon
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Politics & Policy
April 10, 2019
Border Brinkmanship and the Texas Economy
The Texas Senate has tacitly endorsed President Trump’s threat to shut down the border if necessary—a dangerous move for the economy and the president’s political future.
Music
April 5, 2019
Famed Cellist Yo-Yo Ma to Perform on Laredo’s International Bridge
Following a Friday concert in San Antonio, Ma will travel to the border to celebrate the region’s culture and spark conversations about all that unifies Mexicans and Americans.
By
Cat Cardenas
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Border & Immigration
March 22, 2019
You Can Never Leave the Border Behind
Whether I lived in Chicago, Germany, or Dallas, I came to recognize one thing: it’s impossible to leave the borderlands behind.
Books
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.
Art
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.
True Crime
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.
By
Katy Vine
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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.
By
Dan Solomon
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Politics & Policy
September 1, 2015
Scott Walker’s Brilliant Border Plan
On guard against those Labatt-drinking invaders from the north.
Burka Blog
August 18, 2015
How to Secure the Border
Step one: Let’s examine our own insecurities.
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.
By
Dan Solomon
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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.