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The latest border news from The Texas Tribune.

  • "We Do Not Want More Deaths"

    By Julián Aguilar

    "It is impossible to carry out our role in these conditions," read the editorial this week in El Diario de Juárez. "Tell us, therefore, what is expected of us as a medium." The paper was directly addressing Mexican drug traffickers who assassinated its young photographer Luis Carlos Santiago in broad daylight, but the whole world took notice — and asked if the Mexican media was finally waving the white flag before the cartels and gangs now warring for control of the bloodied country. Diario editor Pedro Torres explains that the intent was simply "to call attention to what is going on." Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Terrence Poppa: The TT Interview

    By Julián Aguilar

    The author of Drug Lord on rumors of Mexican political corruption, how the drug war is like Prohibition, why drug traffickers aren't like Muslim extremists, whether the U.S. media really understands Mexico and why Hezbollah has set up shop across the border. Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Terrence Poppa Interview

    By Julián Aguilar

    Terrence Poppa discusses the third edition of his book, Drug Lord, which includes a new epilogue that analyzes how U.S. drug policy has hindered Mexico's efforts to curtail drug violence and corruption. Full Story 

  • A Conversation With Debbie Riddle

    By Evan Smith

    For the 12th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the GOP state representative from Tomball about what she really said on CNN, whether "tourism" babies are a threat to national security, why an Arizona-style immigration law would be right for Texas and whether she'll back Joe Straus for speaker. Full Story 

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  • The Show Must Go On

    By Julián Aguilar

    Despite the violence-fueled cancellation of bicentennial festivities in other major border towns, Nuevo Laredo plans to forge ahead with its celebration of Mexican Independence Day. Full Story 

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    Credit: Christian Frausto Bernal

  • Emilio's Exile

    By Julián Aguilar

    Journalist Emilio Gutiérrez says that after he reported on allegations that Mexican soldiers robbed citizens, the military threatened his life. That led him to seek asylum in the U.S. — but instead, he landed in an immigration detention center for seven months. He's still waiting to find out his ultimate fate. Full Story 

    Mexican reporter Emilio Gutiérrez has sought asylum in the United States since 2008.
    Credit: Julian Aguilar

  • TribBlog: Send in the Drone

    By Julián Aguilar

    State lawmakers have long been clamoring for an unmanned drone to boost security on the border. On Wednesday they'll get their wish, as an unmanned drone begins patrolling the Texas skies. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • The Road to Candelaria

    By Julián Aguilar

    State lawmakers looking for guidance on how to draft immigration legislation that can withstand legal challenges may not have to wait for resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona. A case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could light the path. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Austin, Arizona

    By Mose Buchele, KUT News

    Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be deported from the Travis County jail because of their immigration status than from any other jail in the country, according to federal data obtained by the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Mose Buchele of KUT News reports. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Galbraith on grass, federal money and efforts to prevent another dust bowl, Ergenbright on school suspensions and who gets punished; Aguilar's interview with Alan Bersin, whose job is to keep the U.S./Mexico border secure, M. Smith on why it would be harder than you think to ditch the 14th Amendment, Adler and me on whether controversy is politically contagious, Ramshaw on the flap over funding for the state's institutions for the disabled (it's not about the money), my meditation on the state's fiscal woes (including a $1.3 billion deficit in the current budget), Philpott on proposed cuts to the state's food stamp program, Grissom on the push by Hidalgo County officials for a special election that might not be legal; Hamilton on the seven Texas universities that are making a play for Tier One status and Stiles on the mid-year cash-on-hand numbers reported by campaigns and political action committees: The best of our best from August 16 to 23, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic 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