In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been hinting at ambitious plans for growth on the horizon for The Border Chronicle.
We started this outlet in September 2021 after decades of reporting and writing about the U.S.-Mexico border region. We believed that a news outlet was needed that covered the region as a whole, rather than just a city or a state. From the tip of South Texas to the Tijuana–San Diego metroplex, border communities have a lot in common and a lot to share with one another and the rest of the world. As we like to say here at The Border Chronicle, “The border is the future.”
Throughout the Biden administration, we warned that the authoritarian MAGA movement was training National Guard, local law enforcement, and federal agents at the Texas border under the state’s multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star. Everyone from Donald Trump to Elon Musk visited the Texas border with camera teams in tow, and right-wing media, to promote the idea that the border was under “invasion.” We call this “border theater.”
This authoritarian model has now been unleashed on the interior of the country in places like Chicago and Portland, Oregon, where DHS secretary Kristi Noem, ICE, and other federal agents arrive with their own camera teams, along with right-wing content creators, to create propaganda reels for social media, gaslighting America into believing we need federal troops to target whatever bogeyman they are promoting at the moment.
Unfortunately, we’ve been watching this same bad militarization movie at the border for years. The good news is that border communities have developed ways to fight back, which the rest of the country would be wise to pay attention to now. Melissa talked to several border organizers and wrote about this recently.
As we approach almost a year of Trump back in the White House—honestly, it feels more like 100 years—it’s incredible how many institutions and media outlets have bent the knee to authoritarianism. It’s hard to say what will happen next as we reel from one Trump-induced crisis to another and wade through ever-deepening layers of disinformation, AI slop, and deepfakes produced by his administration.
We are in dangerous and uncharted waters. Reality-based media are under threat. The Border Chronicle wants to meet this moment by staffing up, expanding our coverage, and meeting readers where they are—whether that be on Instagram or YouTube, or in their email inbox. We also want to continue to build a community around The Border Chronicle and provide you with factual, on-the-ground reporting, context, and analysis based on the U.S.-Mexico border from a border perspective.
In the coming weeks, we’ll have more details on our new plans, which will include a fundraiser to hire more reporters. In the meantime, we ask that you fill out our survey to let us know how you think we’re doing so far, how we can improve, and what we can provide more of in 2026 as we revamp The Border Chronicle.
Hearing from you will greatly help us. We launched our Friday news roundup after feedback from readers in our last survey indicated they’d like us to start one. And voilà!
This survey will be short and painless. We promise! Thank you for your time and for supporting The Border Chronicle. We couldn’t do this without you!
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