New from me and @tristanl.ee with a bit of help from @wileydcope.bsky.social: We identified companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that are operated either by members of Patriot Front or individuals with multiple connections to Patriot Front www.texasobserver.org/revealed-fou...

DHS Noem visited Brownsville to spew racist propaganda. CBP's comment period to install 500 miles of deadly buoys in the Rio Grande. DOW installs razor wire in Peñitas. DOW Hegspeth in Brownsville. 2 weeks of border militarization in the Rio Grande Valley, TX. Statement: sotxejn.org/2026/01/09/s...

We oppose the installation of death-trap buoys in our river because they are unnecessary & will seriously injure or kill people. These buoys would also cause irreparable damage to the river habitat. We urge electeds @BTxRGV to condemn these buoys & demand their immediate removal.

Three SpaceX rockets exploded unexpectedly last year – twice raining down debris over busy airspace. “It literally looked like the sun coming out,” one passenger said. Such midair scrambles could become more frequent as launches increase, experts say. www.propublica.org/article/spac...

New: I spoke to Rice University Latin American Studies Professor Luis Duno-Gottberg and @sdonziger.bsky.social about the history of U.S. oil adventurism in Venezuela and the role Chevron is set to play in Trump's blood-for-oil imperial venture. www.texasobserver.org/houston-oil-...

Yes, this is a war for oil, Exxon & other U.S. oil corps are direct beneficiaries. Like all wars for oil, there are other objectives as well, with regime change in Cuba certainly high on the Trump administration's list, accomplished via cutting off oil flows from VZ. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Venezuela has massive oil reserves (estimated the largest, but also tough to extract), but this isn't just about VZ's oil. VZ threatened the entire region's oil, particularly Guyana, which also happens to be Exxon & Chevron's largest biggest newest easiest pot of oil in the world after TX Permian.

By me: It’s easy to feel powerless about climate chaos. Here’s what gives me hope - my swan song for @theguardian.com, at least for now www.theguardian.com/environment/...

SpaceX will keep approaching state & fed agencies to try to occupy more of our sacred, pristine coastline inch by inch. We in South Texas will fight back at every step because this colonizer must be stopped.

Today, we SUED the regulator, FERC, for approving Rio Grande LNG & the Rio Bravo Pipeline. This methane gas facility would be the biggest polluter in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas earthjustice.org/press/2025/t...

🚨Pam Bondi just ordered the FBI to compile a list of American "extremists" and to establish a bounty fund to reward tipsters, per DOJ memo leaked to me: www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-fbi-l...

a big new one from me: I profiled a group of neighbors in west texas who have become the face of the abandoned well problem in the heart of oil country for @motherjones.com - an unlikely group of former industry workers and ranchers who are fed up with how Big Oil won’t clean up its messes:

Today, the US Department of War is working with masked contractors to install border militarization buoys in the Rio Grande River. This is just the start; the Trump Admin plans to eventually install 17 miles of deadly "murder buoys" to maim people in this part of our river. Pics by me:

Sharing this hilarious video of someone yelling "Fuck you" at Congressman Henry Cuellar on the streets of Laredo, TX.

I'm here, I'm queer, I belong in Texas, too. thebarbedwire.com asked me to take a moment to introduce myself, and why our state needs reporters like me, and media where we can see our stories reflected. This one starts when I'm just 13 years old...

The new city of Starbase is suing Texas AG Ken Paxton over his office’s ruling that it must release public information requested by a media outlet in the Rio Grande Valley. bit.ly/3LWQgaw

AP finds a secretive Border Patrol intelligence program detains Americans for “suspicious” travel. Critics call it mass surveillance.

Where's the US news report about this? Someone placed signs on Matamoros, Mexico's beach near the US-Mexico border & SpaceX launchpad, declaring it a "restricted area" in accordance with directives issued by the Secretary of Defense. www.hoytamaulipas.net/notas/605347... www.gob.mx/sre/prensa/n...

Farm workers are proud to stand in solidarity with Starbucks workers. Los campesinos se enorgullecen de solidarizarse con los trabajadores de Starbucks. #NoContractNoCoffee

Absolutely disgusting. Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, has his own company town in the poorest community in the country, the Rio Grande Valley, TX

NOW: A small group of protesters briefly blockaded the entrance to the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin to demand shareholders reject a $1T pay package for the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. The blockade dispersed after a Travis Co. Sheriff threatened to arrest protesters without any official warning.

Alejandro Juarez was mistakenly deported to Mexico despite a pending court hearing, @nytimes.com reports. On Sept. 20, we tracked an Eastern Air Express flight from Newark, NJ to Harlingen, TX — we believe this was the plane carrying Mr. Juarez prior to his wrongful removal to MX.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was beaten, choked, and subjected to racial slurs by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Houston, who did not identify themselves before tackling him and his father to the ground.

Australian company announces lithium refinery plans at the Port of Brownsville “The timing is ideal to establish a foothold in Texas,” the company chairman said www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/ne...

While Menijivar was held at the Corley facility facing possible deportation, another detainee sexually assaulted him twice with the help of an accomplice, he said in an official complaint and in interviews with me this year, and other media in 2017: www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Menjivar, a 50 yo master mechanic originally from El Salvador, had lived in the US for most of the last twenty years. He spent 2013 to 2015 in immigrant detention, including at the Houston-area Joe Corley Detention Center, operated by the for-profit prison contractor GEO Group.

A decade ago, Douglas Menjivar became a whistleblower and activist after he was raped in ICE detention. He married a US citizen, but wasn't able to get a green card. In June, agents arrested him just before his 50th birthday. 🧵 www.texasobserver.org/trump-ice-ar...

Gov. Greg Abbott admitted in an X post that Texas is purging professors with “leftist ideologies” — and people are not happy.

This is the first time federal terrorism charges have been deployed in association with the “antifa” label…The Prairieland case has so far provided a convenient testing ground for state repression. Latest @theintercept.com theintercept.com/2025/10/17/a...

South TX EJ Network is with Matamoros organizations on a boat flotilla off the coast of Playa Bagdad to protest the SpaceX launch that just happened ¡fuera SpaceX, fuera Elon musk!

“This is the first time I’ve seen so many pregnant people in [ICE] detention,” said Tania Wolf, the Southeast advocacy manager at the National Immigration Project. interc.pt/48WWErA

Ten years and five months apart

Law enforcement historically loves announcing their undercover operations ahead of time

At the march in Memphis happening now. From the Rio Grande Valley to Memphis, no more Elon Musk, ICE, & National Guard in our communities. ¡Fuera!

In April, the Trump admin deported “Rosario” & her two US citizen children, one of whom is being treated for stage 4 kidney cancer. The case drew national and international attention. Rosario shares her story for the first time with @theguardian.com - another chapter in our Ice Air investigation:

READ: Two activists in Texas are facing hate crime charges for graffiti criticizing Israel. Their lawyers say these cases represent extreme government overreach and could set a dangerous precedent for Palestine activists nationwide. mondoweiss.net/2025/10/stat...

President Trump’s sweeping national security memo directs feds to investigate and prosecute any person, non-profit, or entity displaying what Trump calls political violence: anti-capitalism, anti-Americanism, anti-Christianity, and “extremism” on race, gender, and migration. trib.al/M7ZbuWE

New: A federal judge has ordered ICE to immediately release 28-year-old Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for two decades, because she is protected from deportation under DACA.

How can 17 people face charges for the alleged actions of a single shooter? How can an officer sustain shots from a rifle to the neck and torso and be released from the hospital in 24 hours? Are anarchist zines evidence of a plan to commit an ambush? There are many questions still unanswered.

"He was flown back to the U.S. and is being detained in El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas.

At the Broadview ICE "processing facility" outside Chicago. Earlier today, federal agents unleashed chemical weapons on protesters, elected officials, a local congressional candidate, and a local mayor. Defiant anti deportation activists remain. Another protest is planned for 7pm.

CW: protester being struck in the head by a pepper ball Footage I took earlier of the moment Reverend David Black, a regular protester outside of the Broadview Detention Center, was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE agents on the roof of the facility.

I’m at the Broadview ICE facility in the Chicago suburbs, where a group of protesters are attempting to block agents from transferring detainees held inside. Several law enforcement armed with rifles have just arrested one protester and earlier fired pepper balls at the crowd:

"What really kept me strong was my anger." In his first extended broadcast interview since being released from prison, Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier talks about spending five decades behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit.

Rio Grande Valley folks will be in NYC next week. come check out our panel about resisting Elon Musk & SpaceX Colonization during #NYCclimateweek at The People's Forum RSVP bit.ly/FrontlinesRe...

T-Mobile knows that by partnering with Musk, they are funneling billions of $$ into the pockets of the most destructive far-right billionaire. This is why we’re calling for a #BoycottTMobile We need your help to collect pledge signatures! Sign up here: stmp.link/collecttmobi...

Andry Hernández Romero – the Venezuelan makeup artist deported to a Salvadoran megaprison – was one of several detained immigrants I interviewed. Here's his chaotic path across the US. When Andry boarded these flights, no one would tell him where exactly he was going. (Illo by Andrew Witherspoon)

Today, Prism is publishing a monthslong investigation by @laubast.bsky.social in partnership with Visualizing Palestine, that takes a deep dive into the experiences of repression that Palestinian, Arab, & Muslim journalists face in the U.S. while attempting to cover the genocide.

New in The Border Chronicle🦂 Communities Push Back against SpaceX in Tamaulipas A Mexican conservation group says Elon Musk’s rocket launches from South Texas are killing turtles, damaging homes, and littering Tamaulipas beaches with debris.