T-Squared: Our Next Crowdfunded Series

How secure is the Texas-Mexico border? It's a hotly debated — and highly politicized — question. But with your support, we intend to find out.

The Texas Tribune's yearlong "Bordering on Insecurity" project will investigate whether local corruption, a revolving door of criminals, and our nation’s thirst for drugs and cheap labor put the border region at risk. We plan to dig deep into the intersection of immigration and border security, from repeat offenders to government malfeasance to the accountability of officials at home and abroad.

The opportunity to take this big swing at the ball is made possible by our great friends at Beacon Reader. The journalism crowdfunding site announced in September that it had $3 million available to double reader pledges for deep-dive reporting projects on immigration and border issues. Beacon identified several major news organizations for funding — lucky for us, the Trib was on the short list — and gave them each the runway to develop their own projects. The San Francisco Chronicle, for one, is wading into the H-1B visa debate; other project topics include the struggles of LGBT refugees. 

Here's how it works for Team Trib: We're $50,000 away from reaching our ambitious $200,000 goal — money that we'll use for extensive and expensive travel by reporters, photographers and videographers, along with aggressive record-seeking and development tools. The great news is, from here on out every individual donation is matched dollar for dollar by Beacon. 

The Trib has already proven that the Beacon funding model works; we've previously crowdfunded projects like Undrinkable, The Shale Life and The Ticket. But this campaign will be our biggest yet — and we’ll need your help to make it a reality.

Contribute here — and thanks in advance for your generous support.