Asylum Is Dead. The Myth of American Decency Died With it.
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.You need a story. That’s what they say, anyway. You need sympathetic characters, a villain, some violence, maybe a dramatic escape. That’s what it takes to gain asylum in the United States. You need lots of other things,…
A Wildlife Refuge Under Siege at the Border
Border wall construction infrastructure is seen cutting through the landscape of southern Arizona. Bill Radke called the water withdrawals for the border wall “the current greatest threat to endangered species in the southwest region.”Russ McSpadden/Center for Biological Diversity For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This piece was originally…
South Texas Hospitals Are Overwhelmed by COVID-19. But No One Is Being “Sent Home to Die.”
David J. Phillip/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Last week, a small rural county in south Texas went from the poster child for good pandemic response to the entire country’s worst nightmare. In a widely-covered press conference, Starr County Health Authority Jose Vasquez announced that, like many hospitals…
Trump Is Blowing Up Native Burial Grounds to Build His Wall
Organ Pipe, Arizona, USA – Ongoing construction of border wall at Organ Pipe National MonumentBob Torrez/ZUMA Wire Contractors hired by Customs and Border Patrol began blasting ground last week in areas of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the latest step in President Donald Trump’s $646 million plan to build a 30-foot wall along 63 miles…
Ranchers Feel Blindsided by Trump’s Wall
Part of the border fence in Arizona.Astrid Galvan/AP This piece was originally published in High Country News and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Since 1994, the Malpai Borderlands Group, a coalition of ranchers, has worked to steward approximately 800,000 acres of rangeland in southern Arizona and New Mexico. The group started…
Jessica Cisneros Could Be the Next AOC. (But Don’t Tell Her That.)
Jessica CisnerosJosh Huskin Jessica Cisneros needed to find a dentist. When she decided to challenge Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar in the upcoming Democratic primary, Cisneros quit her job and moved back in with her parents in Laredo to save money. She’d bought her own insurance plan after turning 26 last May, but it didn’t include…