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Julián Aguilar

Julián Aguilar’s staff photo

Julián Aguilar reported for the Tribune from 2009 to 2021, most recently on politics and on the Texas-Mexico border. He focused on immigration reform and enforcement, voter ID, international trade, border security, and the drug trade. His political coverage has included local, legislative and congressional races in Texas, as well as local and national elections in Mexico. Before joining The Texas Tribune, he was a freelance writer for the Fort Worth Weekly, a government and crime reporter for the Laredo Morning Times, and a political writer for the Rio Grande Guardian. A native of El Paso, he has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas and a master's degree in journalism from the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas.

Past Contributions

  • Obstacles in the Path

    By Julián Aguilar

    At a House hearing Wednesday, lawmakers learned that undocumented immigrants have almost no way to earn permanent residency status in the U.S. through employment and that a much-touted system to verify that employees can legally work here is flawed. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • The Optimist Club

    By Julián Aguilar

    Along the border, the beheadings and bombings carried out by drug cartels are drawing comparisons to murders by Muslim extremists — not surprising, given the war-like death toll of 8,100 so far this year in Mexico, including about 50 casualties last weekend. Yet diplomats from both sides reject the notion raised regularly by government officials and media outlets that Mexico is a "failed state." The horrors of some communities, they told a border security conference last week in El Paso, overshadow the fact that parts of the country remain stable and are thriving economically. Full Story 

    Ciudad Juárez at dusk looking west toward Misión de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
    Credit: Daniel Schwen

  • Alan Bersin: The TT Interview

    By Julián Aguilar

    The commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection on why he believes the Texas-Mexico border is secure, why deportations of criminals have reached unprecedented levels, why trade between the U.S. and Mexico still thrives and what motivates most undocumented immigrants to enter this country illegally. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Border Residents Feel Safe, Poll Finds

    By Julián Aguilar

    A large majority of the residents of Texas cities on the U.S.-Mexico border feel relatively safe despite harsh rhetoric from lawmakers and a consistent media portrayal of their communities as war zones, according to a poll released today. Full Story 

    Downtown El Paso
    Credit: http://jdlong.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/nighttime-downtown-el-paso.jpg