U.S. Border patrol

Mike Pence’s PR stunt at the border does not go well

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Above Photo: Vice President Mike Pence, along with Republican Senators John Cornyn (TX), Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), and (partially hidden in back) Mike Lee (UT) at the migrant detention center in McAllen, TX. Most reporters have been using the pool report from the Washington Post, so let’s use this as a starting point … Read more

ICE raids reportedly to begin on Sunday

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The last time was a head-fake to create a media distraction for the emergency border funding appropriation bill. This time may actually be the real deal, but also to create a media distraction from Robert Mueller’s testimony next week. Better to focus media attention on a scandal that actually inures to the benefit of Trump … Read more

New allegations of child abuse in Yuma migrant detention center

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On Sunday, the New York Times in conjunction with the El Paso Times published an investigative report on the horrible conditions inside the Clint, Texas migrant detention center. Hungry, Scared and Sick: Inside the Migrant Detention Center in Clint, Tex. (excerpt): [I]nside the secretive site that is now on the front lines of the southwest … Read more

The social media habits of law enforcement are being exposed by investigative reporting

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Last month the Phoenix New Times followed up on a Buzzfeed report on the Plain View Project, a database created by a team of Philadelphia attorneys in an effort to catalog bigotry and racism among police officers nationwide on social media. Phoenix Cops Bash Muslims, Call Black People Thugs in Shocking Facebook Posts: The database includes 282 … Read more

Borderlands Theater new play “Nogales” in September

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NOGALES: STORYTELLERS IN CARTEL COUNTRY

In collaboration with Campo Santo and Magic Theatre

Written by Richard Montoya

Directed by Sean San Jose

September 7 – September 25
Cabaret Theater, Temple of Music and Art

“Richard Montoya (American Night, Water & Power) of the acclaimed Chicano performance troupe Culture Clash (Bowl of Beans, Chavez Ravine) and ensemble members from San Francisco’s Campo Santo collaborate with Borderlands artists in season opener. Nogales: Storytellers in Cartel Country uses original and researched text, created video and short film, set against scenic art installations. At it’s core is the tragic & true story of a Nogales boy, shot in the back 15 times by a U.S. Border patrol officer. Documentation morphs into hybrid performance as Nogales: Storytellers in Cartel Country traces the bullets beyond headlines, borders and politics to explore the true lives and real people from the dangerous shadowlands to the powerful circle of an infamous sheriff.

California artists Montoya, Sean San Jose, and filmographer Joan Osato traveled to Phoenix and on through to Nogales Mexico to immerse themselves in the border region. The play is the product of conversations with the people they met as they traversed the border landscape. Tucson may recognize a few locals as characters in the play like former TPAC executive director Roberto Bedoya, and Kat Rodriguez from the Colibri Center for human rights.

The play is a meditation of place, crossing over, crossing borders, bullets crossing and lives crossing. A journey into border culture, grappling with the flux of immigration and migration as tensions rise under anti-immigration sentiments responsible for the militarization of the border.

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