A toad that secretes a powerful psychedelic. A self-styled shaman who claimed a lost Seri tradition. A trail of deaths and denial. Writer Kimon de Greef talks about his new book The Ego Trip, the cost of toad smoking tourism, and the men who profit from it. Read full Q&A: 🔗🦂

The Sonoran Desert’s Endemic Psychedelic: A Q&A with Writer Kimon de Greef

A new book tells the scandal-ridden tale of Sonora’s toad-smoking neo-shaman.

theborderchronicle.com

Buoys swept loose, bridges shut down, $3B in taxpayer money, and DHS still isn't answering questions. We covered the chaos on the Rio Grande this weekend, with more reporting (and a new project) on the way. We're a 3-person newsroom that can't do this without you. Read + support 🛟🦂🔗:

Reporting on Buoys and Boondoggles; Plus Big News from The Border Chronicle

Do you have questions about the recent buoy debacle on the Rio Grande? Our reporting has you covered, plus an important new hire at The Border Chronicle, and our new project Wall Watch.

theborderchronicle.com

A weekend flood sent DHS's $3B buoy barrier scattering down the Rio Grande, shutting bridges, stalling trade, and leaving mayors and a congressman still waiting on answers about where the buoys came from and who's responsible. This was a minor flood. Here's what that should tell you. Full Story🔗🦂:

Floods Expose Dangers of Trump’s $3 Billion Rio Grande Buoy Barrier Plan

As floodwaters swept hundreds of one-ton border buoys downstream, international bridges closed, commerce slowed, and officials struggled to get answers from DHS about a project advancing despite local...

theborderchronicle.com

Guess how I spent my weekend? All your questions answered about Trump's $3 billion border buoy barrier fiasco over the weekend. And it's still being cleaned up. www.theborderchronicle.com/floods-expos...

Floods Expose Dangers of Trump’s $3 Billion Rio Grande Buoy Barrier Plan

As floodwaters swept hundreds of one-ton border buoys downstream, international bridges closed, commerce slowed, and officials struggled to get answers from DHS about a project advancing despite local...

theborderchronicle.com

Breaking News: Laredo on Alert as Trump's Buoys Cause Chaos on the Rio Grande, Close International Bridges www.theborderchronicle.com/breaking-new...

Breaking News: Laredo on Alert as Trump's Buoys Cause Chaos on the Rio Grande, Close International Bridges

Hundreds of massive orange buoys staged for a controversial DHS floating barrier project broke free near Eagle Pass and are now drifting toward Laredo, threatening bridges, commerce, drinking water su...

theborderchronicle.com

From @mdelbosque.bsky.social at @theborderchronicle.bsky.social: “Hundreds of massive orange buoys, each weighing approximately a ton, were swept into the Rio Grande shortly before midnight as the river burst its banks due to torrential rains.” www.theborderchronicle.com/breaking-new...

Breaking News: Laredo on Alert as Trump's Buoys Cause Chaos on the Rio Grande, Close International Bridges

Hundreds of massive orange buoys staged for a controversial DHS floating barrier project broke free near Eagle Pass and are now drifting toward Laredo, threatening bridges, commerce, drinking water su...

theborderchronicle.com

BREAKING🚨: 120 buoys staged for Trump's Rio Grande floating barrier broke loose near Eagle Pass, closing bridges. They're drifting toward Laredo, where officials declared an emergency, expecting them at the Colombia Bridge by Sunday, threatening water supplies & trade. Read full story: 🔗🦂

Breaking News: Laredo on Alert as Trump's Buoys Cause Chaos on the Rio Grande, Close International Bridges

Hundreds of massive orange buoys staged for a controversial DHS floating barrier project broke free near Eagle Pass and are now drifting toward Laredo, threatening bridges, commerce, drinking water su...

theborderchronicle.com

New Epidode🎙️: Caroline Tracey talks with journalist John Washington about his book How to Close a Camp, out July 21. With ICE detention at record highs, Washington shows how camps rely on local permits & contracts, each one a pressure point communities can use. Watch & Listen to full podcast🦂🔗:

Why Local Pressure is Key to Impacting National Immigration Politics: A podcast with John Washington, author of "How to Close a Camp."

In February, the country broke an ominous record: over 68,000 people were being held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than ever before.

theborderchronicle.com

At Tucson's Camp Hope, 55+ kids seeking asylum get a week to just be kids, water slides, art, music, while their families face detention & deportation threats. Moises, a former camper who fled cartel violence in Guerrero, now heads to opera school in Milan on scholarship. Read full story🔗🦂:

From Fear to Hope: At a Tucson Summer Camp, Asylum-Seeking Children Find Joy Again

As immigrant families face detention, shrinking legal protections and the threat of deportation, Camp Hope offers children a rare chance to play, heal and dream. One former camper is headed to an oper...

theborderchronicle.com

This week🗞️:Who really pays for Brownsville's industrial and tech boom, residents say pollution and strained resources, while corporations reap tax abatements. Plus, a road trip through Baja reveals how NAFTA reshaped Tijuana's landscape, amid USMCA's uncertain future. Full Weekly Roundup🔗🦂:

The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: July 10

Border grassroots organizing is winning in July; Who pays the price for Brownsville's tech and industrial boom? And Tijuana Art Week and NAFTA's lasting influence on Baja's landscape. Plus more!

theborderchronicle.com

Previously: Despite all the Trump administration's crackdowns, seven people climbed into a cargo container last month, probably near Del Rio, for a journey by rail to San Antonio. They never made it.

Deaths Uncovered in Laredo Show the Ongoing Toll of Border Militarization

“The people we’re finding now dying on the U.S. side of the border are the people who could not wait.”

texasobserver.org

All 3 men inside of the van with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo “‘reiterated that there were never any ICE agents in front of the van…They came in and started shooting from the sides.’” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers

Three men who were in the vehicle alongside Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting.

washingtonpost.com

NAFTA didn't just move goods across the border. It rebuilt the land itself. As USMCA's future hangs in question, Caroline Tracey drives through Baja California during Tijuana Art Week, tracing free trade's marks on maquiladora boomtowns and abandoned housing tracts. Read full article🔗🦂:

Reporter’s Notebook: NAFTA, Tijuana Art Week, and the Built Environment of the Baja Borderlands

A road trip through Baja California reveals how free trade, migration, and border policy have reshaped Tijuana's landscape, and why the uncertain future of the USMCA invites new questions about what c...

theborderchronicle.com

Cameron County, one of the poorest US counties, just gave a $9.25B AI warship maker a 95% tax abatement worth $211M+ to build in Brownsville. Locals packed hearings asking why billion dollar companies get relief while they absorb the pollution and costs. Who really pays? Read full story🦂🔗:

Who Pays for Brownsville's Industrial and Tech Boom?

County leaders say tax abatements attract jobs. But some residents argue the incentives enrich billion-dollar corporations while they shoulder the costs of growth, pollution, strained public resources...

theborderchronicle.com

Cameron County, one of the poorest US counties, just gave a $9.25B AI warship maker a 95% tax abatement worth $211M+ to build in Brownsville. Locals packed hearings asking why billion dollar companies get relief while they absorb the pollution and costs. Who really pays? Read full story🦂🔗:

Who Pays for Brownsville's Industrial and Tech Boom?

County leaders say tax abatements attract jobs. But some residents argue the incentives enrich billion-dollar corporations while they shoulder the costs of growth, pollution, strained public resources...

theborderchronicle.com

This week🗞️🌵: Sam Karas reports on the border wall threatening some of North America's oldest rock art in Texas' Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Plus, our new podcast,Todd & Melissa on the everywhere border, as surveillance and heavy-handed policing move from the borderlands into the interior. Full Read🦂🔗:

The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: July 3

Happy 250th America! In a new podcast, Melissa and Todd discuss surveillance, and unconstitutional policing migrating into the country's interior, and ancient rock art faces demolition in Texas. Plus ...

theborderchronicle.com

New podcast episode: Todd & Melissa on how border tactics such as surveillance, chases, warrantless searches, are moving inland. Plus buoy barriers, walls through sacred sites, and Todd's book on the Rio Grande. We run on subscribers, not ads. Subscribe NOW. Our work depends on YOU. Listen Now🔗🦂:

The Everywhere Border: A podcast with Border Chronicle founders, Todd and Melissa

Border Chronicle founders, Todd and Melissa, talk about how law enforcement surveillance, high-speed chases instigated by Border Patrol, unwarranted searches and seizures, and other heavy-handed polic...

theborderchronicle.com

DHS handed Fisher Sand & Gravel $2.6B to cut a border barrier through Texas's Lower Pecos Canyonlands, home to 300+ rock art sites, some 5,000+ years old, and North America's oldest buffalo jump. Cultural laws were waived under the REAL ID Act. Archaeologists are sounding alarms. Full story🔗🦂:

Trump’s Border Wall Is Coming for Some of the Oldest Murals in North America

A $2.6 billion border barrier through Texas' Lower Pecos Canyonlands has archaeologists warning that irreplaceable indigenous rock art and sacred sites could be destroyed.

theborderchronicle.com

Photographer Eliseu Cavalcante captures the quiet, manual work of preserving the desert's cacti and succulents amid habitat loss, and writer Barbara Paes traces how deportees stay "Forever Followed by ICE," trapped in surveillance long after removal. Read Full Weekly Roundup🦂🔗:

The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: June 26

The efforts to preserve the desert's iconic plants, resist the destruction of ancient trees, and deal with the harassing border machine, even after deportation.

theborderchronicle.com

Long after deportation, surveillance and stigma don't stop. Julian wore an ICE ankle monitor for 2 yrs before being deported in 2019. Daniel, deported to Jamaica in 2023, says the stigma followed him home. This is the Everywhere Border. Read full piece below🔗🦂:

“Forever Followed by ICE”

Long after they are deported, people are subjected to the Everywhere Border of surveillance, stigma, and economic hardship.

theborderchronicle.com

One place I would be right now if I were not on deadline: San Ygnacio Texas thankfully @theborderchronicle.bsky.social covering here

The Border Chronicle@theborderchronicle.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Elsa Hull was arrested while protesting a 30-foot border wall being bulldozed on her neighbor's land — land he never gave permission to enter. "They don't care about any law." Read the full Q&A🔗🦂: www.theborderchronicle.com/they-dont-ca...

As mines, housing, and border wall construction chew through the Sonoran Desert, volunteers with the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society rescue saguaros and ocotillos by hand before bulldozers move in. ~165,000 plants saved so far. 🌵 📷Photos by Eliseu Cavalcante. Read full story🔗🦂:

The Manual Labor of Conservation

As housing projects, mines, and border wall construction accelerate habitat loss, photographer Eliseu Cavalcante documents the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society’s efforts to preserve the desert’s ic...

theborderchronicle.com

With interior Border Patrol checkpoints to the north, and the border to the south, DACA recipients in border communities feel under threat by multiple layers of law enforcement, from ICE to local police. Especially in Texas where Latinos say it feels like they have a target on their backs.

A Traffic Stop, Three Months in ICE Detention, and a Deportation Order: How Texas’s Immigration Crackdown Is Sweeping Up DACA Recipients

With interior Border Patrol checkpoints to the north, and the border to the south, DACA recipients in border communities feel under threat by multiple layers of law enforcement, from ICE to local poli...

theborderchronicle.com

What if vampires were the world's original stateless people? Laredo author Ito Romo's debut novella Filth Eaters spans 1,000 years of conquest, migration & survival, with fangs. Read full review🔗🦂:

Vampires without Borders

Spanning a thousand years and multiple continents, the new novel Filth Eaters casts vampires as the world's ultimate stateless people.

theborderchronicle.com

Contractors halted Wednesday near San Ygnacio's bird sanctuary after protests revealed the land wasn't federally owned. Clearing continues north of town. Hull's trespass charge stands. "A small victory, but we'll take it." This follows Hull's June 9 Q&A🔗🦂: www.theborderchronicle.com/they-dont-ca...

Buoys hit Eagle Pass. A border resident arrested for peacefully protesting wall construction. Plus, activist Jacques Servin of the Yes Men joins our podcast to completely reframe what "border security" really means. Do not miss this week’s roundup🗞️🦂:

The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: June 12

Trump's big buoys arrive in Eagle Pass, a border resident arrested for nonviolent protest against wall construction in Zapata County, and catch our podcast with Yes Men prankster, political activist J...

theborderchronicle.com

What if "border security" is a lie hiding in plain sight? Todd Miller & Yes Men activist Jacques Servin go deep on language, power & the borderlands. Don't skip to the end, but definitely make it there. Listen to full episode🔗🦂:

The Term “Border Security” Is Completely Inaccurate: A Podcast with Jacques Servin

This conversation, hosted by Todd Miller, about a great borderlands adobe brick building project is going great, until Jacques Servin—of the political performance artist trickster and activist troupe ...

theborderchronicle.com

Elsa Hull was arrested while protesting a 30-foot border wall being bulldozed on her neighbor's land — land he never gave permission to enter. "They don't care about any law." Read the full Q&A🔗🦂: www.theborderchronicle.com/they-dont-ca...

This week's Border Chronicle: the team meets legendary journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, plus a deep dive into big tech and the everywhere border, a podcast on Latin American art and the borderlands, and news from screwworms in Texas to family separations. 🦂📰 Full Weekly Roundup🔗:

The Border Chronicle Weekly Roundup: June 5

The Border Chronicle hangs out with legendary journalist Amy Goodman, plus big tech and the "everywhere border" and a podcast about Latin American art and the borderlands and more!

theborderchronicle.com

There’s some joy!

The Border Chronicle@theborderchronicle.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Two skate crews. Two countries. One community. Three women-led groups in the Arizona-Sonora borderlands are rewriting what life looks like when you stop letting borders define you. Read full story by Susan Barnett🦂🛼🔗: www.theborderchronicle.com/romeo-and-ju...