The Border Chronicle

Every Friday, The Border Chronicle hosts a discussion on Substack Live to keep you informed on our latest articles and podcasts, and other important news from across the U.S.-Mexico border region.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Canada and Mexico agree to deepen ties amid Trump trade war BBC

60 violations in 50 days: Inside ICE’s giant tent facility at Ft. Bliss The Washington Post

First section of new border wall in Az's San Rafael Valley visible Monday The Tucson Sentinel

Texas troopers are doubling their salaries under Abbott's border effort, even as crossings hit new lows Austin American-Statesman

Fort Bliss ‘assessing potential risks’ after city of El Paso deploys Chinese-made drones next to Army post El Paso Matters

South County Report: Democracy Is Dying? Not in National City Voice of San Diego

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Support our reporting and independent journalism from the U.S.-Mexico border. Subscribe today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

Every Friday, The Border Chronicle hosts a discussion on Substack Live about our stories from the week and share more news about the border from around the web.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:“Operation Lone Star 2.0”: DPS arresting thousands of undocumented immigrants across Texas to aid Trump’s mass deportation The Texas Tribune

Did Fort Bliss once house a World War II internment camp for people of Japanese, Italian and German descent? El Paso Matters

Amid student fear and uncertainty, Arizona colleges split on clear policies for ICE on campus Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

The eyes of Chihuahua The Texas Observer

This month The Border Chronicle is celebrating its 4th anniversary. Help us continue providing crucial news from the border with a paid subscription today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

Support independent journalism from the U.S.-Mexico border. Subscribe today for just $6 a month or $60 a year. Help us keep the lights on.

More News from the Border:

Mexico-US initiative seeks to standardize water quality data as contaminated river threatens both nations Tijuana Press

Arizona’s Cochise County, known for election turmoil, may challenge state laws again ahead of 2026 The Tucson Sentinel

How an embezzlement scheme fumbled $50 million meant for Southern Ariz colonias The Tucson Sentinel

2 El Paso County DACA recipients challenge ICE detention as families plead for justice El Paso Matters

The last corridor: How conservationists are protecting wildlife in Arizona’s San Rafael Valley amid border wall construction News 21

What ICE agents can and cannot legally do during arrests NPR

This month The Border Chronicle is celebrating its 4th anniversary. Help us continue providing crucial news from the border with a paid subscription today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

ICE Is Using Taylor Swift’s Loophole To Hide Deportation Flights The Lever

DHS rap video introduces new ICE vehicles featuring Trump's name in gold RawStory

Breaking News – Border Wall Construction to Begin in September, County Officials Say Patagonia Regional Times

Trump administration bans drones in Nogales area until February Nogales International

Peruvian in Fort Bliss ICE detention says ‘American nightmare’ began after selling ceviche in Miami Beach El Paso Matters

Mystery surrounds $1.2B Army contract to build detention tent camp Associated Press

Environmental Laws Waived to Build Border Wall in Texas Wildlife Refuge Inside Climate News

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Who profits from immigrant detention, and how is the money made? Geographers Nancy Hiemstra and Deirdre Conlon have investigated these questions for 10 years, producing one of the most thorough examinations of the industry. In today’s podcast, we discuss their findings in the new book Immigration Detention Inc: The Big Business of Locking Up Migrants.

This book comes at a crucial time as the Trump administration attempts to carry out a mass deportation plan that will be financed by an estimated $45 billion budget, via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

We discuss all of this: the billions made not only by major prison companies like Geo Group and CoreCivic but also by subcontracted services such as food, medical care, and commissary. The authors highlight that substandard food and health services are part of the business model. We discuss the financial dependencies that local governments have developed through their revenue-sharing agreements with ICE. Additionally, we examine the rapid growth of the detention industry—from 7,000 people in the early 1990s to 60,000 today—and how this growth has accelerated in the last eight months under Trump.

Finally, the authors suggest solutions. “Chip away that detention is effective or necessary … this is really a false narrative,” Hiemstra says, and “peel away what makes detention profitable, and peel away the ability to make money off it.”

Hiemstra is also the author of Detain and Deport: The Chaotic U.S. Enforcement Regime. Conlon and Hiemstra also coedited the book Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention.

Support independent journalism from the U.S.-Mexico border. Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Military Preparing Attacks on Mexican Cartels Ken Klippenstein

Mexico Between Drones and Extraditions: Strategic Cooperation or Hidden Submission? Pie de Nota

A Venezuelan Was Detained as a “Documented” Gang Member by ICE, which Refused to Provide Proof Texas Observer

ICE to purchase AI tech that scans eyes to increase deportations AZFamily

Trump wants US-Mexico border wall to be painted black to stop climbers BBC

We rely 100 percent on your support at The Border Chronicle. Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or a discounted $60 a year. Help us keep the lights on.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Federal judge appears ready to dismiss 2 of 14 charges in Henry Cuellar’s bribery case The Texas Tribune

Quién Es Tu Gente: The Performance Artists of the RGV Trucha RGV

Gannett buyouts claim Arizona Republic's top political & opinion writers Tucson Sentinel

A new detention facility at Fort Bliss is set to open this week after problems that may preview issues to come as ICE ramps up for mass deportation. NBC News

CETYS University Advances Cross-Border Academic Partnerships Beyond Borders Gazette

Border Patrol Agent Arrested and Charged with Domestic Violence in Laredo, Texas (Spanish text) Laredo Daily News

We rely 100 percent on your support at The Border Chronicle. Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or a discounted $60 a year. Help us keep the lights on.

Jesse Franzblau is the Associate Policy Director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants and advocates for their rights.

Franzblau spent years documenting rights abuses in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands for the organization’s Transparency and Human Rights Project. He now advocates for better immigration policies in Congress.

In this podcast, Franzblau explains how the U.S. became home to the world’s largest immigrant detention system, and how it was built by both Republicans and Democrats. From the beginning, private prison corporations such as CoreCivic and the Geo Group built immigration detention, which has become its own booming industry, especially now that Trump’s massive spending bill, passed on July 4, will pour billions into the detention and deportation system over the next four years. In addition to defining the problem, Franzblau shares how the for-profit immigrant detention economy could be dismantled.

For more context:

* A guide for members of congress visiting detention facilities: https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/ice-detention-oversight-toolkit-release/

* An explainer on the impact of HR1 funding: https://immigrantjustice.org/research/explainer-how-congress-codified-hateful-and-extreme-anti-immigrant-policies-by-passing-trumps-budget-bill/

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Thank you joyce book, CathyP, Barbara Lemmon, Susan Lyman, wade mayer, and many others for tuning into the Weekly Roundup live video. Apologies for any technical guffaws at the beginning. We’re still learning, but hopefully getting better.

We rely 100% on our readers and listeners to support our work at the U.S.-Mexico border. Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels New York Times

Watch: New border wall going up over existing barrier in Rio Grande Valley Border Report

New Arizona jaguar sightings a 'positive sign' despite border wall, UA researchers say Tucson Sentinel

Fort Bliss army base on US southern border to take 1,000 ICE detainees The Guardian

Border Patrol and ICE Agents Are Arresting U.S. Citizens in Immigration Raids Capital & Main

If you’ve read this far consider supporting our work for just $6 a month or $60 a year. Help us keep the lights on!

Thank you for joining us in the dog days of summer! Sorry about the last minute reschedule on our live video this morning. We had a changing of the co-host. And Caroline very kindly joined us to talk about her really interesting Q&A this week with Baja California historian Marco Antonio Samaniego on the new binational Tijuana River agreement. What’s happening in your community that The Border Chronicle should cover? Let us know!

We rely 100% on our readers and listeners to support our work at the U.S.-Mexico border. Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or $60 a year.

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

More News from the Border:

2 customs officers plead guilty to allowing drugs to enter the US through their inspection lanes The Associated Press

Trump Wants a New Border Wall. It Would Block a Key Wildlife Corridor. The New York Times

285 acres of Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge taken over by Navy in border security move The Tucson Sentinel

Venezuelan deportees say they endured months of abuse inside a Salvadoran prison The Texas Tribune

International bridges in Valley, border regions seeing fewer crossings MyRGV.com

San Diego County’s Schools Have 27,000 Fewer Students Than a Decade Ago. It Will Get Worse. Voice of San Diego

Rio Grande Valley’s biggest free health clinic event of the year is canceled due to federal cuts The Texas Tribune

If you’ve read this far consider supporting our work for just $6 a month or $60 a year. Help us keep the lights on!