Shadow Wolves, Border Militarization, and the Tohono O’odham Nation
There have been different responses to increased immigration over the Arizona-Mexico border on the Tohono O'odham Nation. One has been the dramatic increase of federal immigration enforcement agents and technology on the Nation. The other has been an attempt to put water along migrant routes, in attempt to stop migrant deaths. All of this has taken place on a Native American reservation, whose aboriginal land has been divided by the U.S.-Mexico border.
Waging Anti-Immigrant Lawfare—From Alabama to Washington, D.C.
On June 9, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed into law what many see as the harshest anti-immigrant bill passed thus far by any U.S. state. H.B. (House Bill) 56, also known as the “Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” exceeds Arizona’s infamous S.B. 1070 in its ambition. Failing federal intervention to block it, the bulk of the law is scheduled to go into effect on September 1.
Waging Anti-Immigrant LawfareFrom Alabama to Washington, D.C.
On June 9, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed into law what many see as the harshest anti-immigrant bill passed thus far by any U.S. state. H.B. (House Bill) 56, also known as the "Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act," exceeds Arizona's infamous S.B. 1070 in its ambition. Failing federal intervention to block it, the bulk of the law is scheduled to go into effect on September 1.
A Peace Movement Emerges in Brutalized Juárez
On June 10, a new movement was born in Mexico. A peace caravan of hundreds of people from all over the country arrived to the border city of Ciudad Juárez to sign a national social pact with the goal of ending the militarized drug war in Mexico. This drug war has killed approximately 40,000 people since Mexican president Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006. This pact was appropriately signed in brutalized Ciudad Juárez, an epicenter of drug war-related violence, where 7,000 of these killings have taken place.
Photo Essay: Walking the Migrant Trail
From May 30 to June 5, I participated in the Migrant Trail Walk, a 75 mile walk from the U.S.-Mexico border to Tucson, Arizona, traversing the Altar Valley, one of the hottest stretches in the Sonoran desert during the summer months. This eighth annual walk was done in solidarity with the thousands of migrants who cross into the United States clandestinely, and in remembrance of the thousands whose bodies have been recovered, many in the same vast desert where we walked.
The ‘Enemy’ Within
On May 24, authorities in Arizona arrested three Maricopa County sheriff's employees for alleged involvement in migrant and drug smuggling;
The Homeland Securitization of Education in the Borderlands
On April 26, eight high school students ran from their seats in the audience of a Tucson, Arizona district school
Border Build-up Drones On
Many who perceive U.S. immigration and boundary enforcement efforts as insufficient, President Barack Obama asserted in his immigration speech in
Steven Seagal and the U.S.-Mexico Border
On March 24 actor Steven Seagal led a posse from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in a SWAT tank, along
