Bordering on Insecurity

Featured coverage

Big employers no strangers to benefits of cheap, illegal labor

By Travis Putnam Hill Dec. 19, 2016

Two cases illustrate how big-name employers benefit from illegal labor and why undocumented workers are easily exploited. Full Story 

In Texas, undocumented immigrants have no shortage of work

By Travis Putnam Hill Dec. 16, 2016

An underground labor market provides abundant employment opportunities for undocumented immigrants in the United States. But working in the shadows often means accepting low pay and exploitation. Full Story 

Texas wages a war on drugs at the border. That might be the wrong place.

By Jolie McCullough and Eleanor Dearman Dec. 13, 2016

An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico. Full Story 

Latest coverage

• Beyond the wall: A Texas Tribune documentary on immigration and border security

  By Jay Root and Todd Wiseman March 29, 2017

  No issue stirred more passion in the 2016 elections than border security and immigration. In Beyond The Wall, a Texas Tribune documentary, we look past the heated rhetoric to explore why people and dope keep pouring across the border. Full Story 

• Border Patrol agent convicted of corruption but not murder

  By Jay Root Jan. 31, 2017

  Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna was found guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity, but a Cameron County jury acquitted him of murder. Full Story 

• Two sharply different portrayals of Border Patrol agent at murder trial

  By Jay Root Jan. 27, 2017

  Devoted public servant who protected the nation’s borders and erred only by helping out his family? Or leader of a drug- and gun-trafficking enterprise? Those were the two portraits that emerged of Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna at his two-week murder trial. Now, a jury will decide his fate as early as Monday. Full Story 

• Jury to decide Border Patrol agent's fate

  By Jay Root Jan. 26, 2017

  The fate of Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna and his Mexican-born brother Eduardo, both charged with drug trafficking and the murder of a would-be snitch, is set to fall to a Cameron County jury Friday after almost two weeks of testimony and sparring over evidence. Full Story 

• Brownsville jurors shown cash and safe as Border Patrol agent's murder trial continues

  By Jay Root Jan. 20, 2017

  Hoping to bolster their murder case against Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna, prosecutors showed jurors a safe they say he used to store $90,000 in smuggled money. Full Story 

• Border Patrol agent tied to smuggled money but not to slaying in day 3 of trial

  By Jay Root Jan. 19, 2017

  Joel Luna, the Border Patrol agent on trial for capital murder in Brownsville, was linked to hundreds of thousands of dollars in smuggled money by the prosecution's star witness — Luna's older brother Eduardo. Full Story 

• Sobbing brother testifies in Border Patrol agent's murder trial

  By Jay Root Jan. 18, 2017

  The star witness against a Border Patrol agent accused of murder — his own brother — gave tearful testimony in a Brownsville courtroom Wednesday. Full Story 

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• Sparring over evidence marks first day of Border Patrol agent's trial

  By Jay Root Jan. 17, 2017

  A state judge ruled that a statement Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna voluntarily gave authorities can be used in his murder trial. Sparring over evidence marked the first day of his trial in South Texas, in a case that has stoked concern about alleged law enforcement corruption on the U.S. side of the border. Full Story 

• Border Patrol agent's murder trial begins this week

  By Jay Root Jan. 17, 2017

  The capital murder case began in 2015 with the discovery of a headless body floating off South Padre Island. The trial of two men charged in the case — a U.S. Border Patrol agent and his Mexican-born brother — begins today in South Texas. Full Story 

• 8 border security secrets state and federal officials don't want to reveal

  By Jay Root Jan. 2, 2017

  Trying to get beyond the rhetoric on border security or immigration at the state or federal level is often a fool's errand. Here are eight secrets in those often shadowy arenas. Full Story 

• Small steps aim to lessen exploitation of Texas construction workers

  By Neena Satija, The Texas Tribune and Reveal Dec. 22, 2016

  In Houston and Austin, some builders are voluntarily trying to ensure that construction workers are paid well and their safety is protected. Full Story 

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• Trump's rhetoric, border surge colored immigration debate in 2016

  By Julián Aguilar Dec. 22, 2016

  The president-elect's tough border talk propelled him to victory, the U.S. Supreme Court dashed President Obama's deferred action hopes and the Texas border surge drew questions. Full Story 

• Texas fights drugs at the border, but is that the right place?

  By Eleanor Dearman, Jolie McCullough and Todd Wiseman Dec. 14, 2016

  An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico. Full Story 

• When asked, won't tell: top three officials duck specifics on illegal hiring

  By Jay Root Dec. 14, 2016

  The state's top elected officials are happy to go on about border security, but they get tongue tied if the conversation turns to cracking down on employers of undocumented immigrants. Full Story 

• In Texas, lawmakers don't mess with employers of undocumented workers

  By Jay Root Dec. 14, 2016

  For all their condemnations of illegal immigration, Texas lawmakers — Republican and Democratic — have shown little interest in cracking down on businesses that employ undocumented workers. Full Story 

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• Legalizing marijuana might have negligible impact on border security

  By Eleanor Dearman Dec. 9, 2016

  Supporters of legal marijuana say it would help ease problems with drug smuggling at the southern border, but experts say drug cartels would probably just switch to other products. Full Story 

• While people and drugs come north, guns pour south into Mexico

  By Julián Aguilar Dec. 7, 2016

  Often overlooked in border security debates is the river of guns and ammunition that flows from the United States — especially Texas — into Mexico, arming cartels and smugglers. Full Story 

• If we hire them, they will come: The demand side of border security

  By Jay Root, Jolie McCullough and Julián Aguilar Dec. 6, 2016

  A fundamental truth underlies the nation's collective failure to stop illegal immigration and smuggling over the southern border: The United States demands the cheap labor and drugs. Full Story 

• Risk of terrorists crossing U.S. border into Texas is real — but low

  By Eleanor Dearman Dec. 1, 2016

  The number of illegal border crossers from far flung places— including countries deemed sponsors of terrorism — has been increasing, but they remain a small fraction of total border apprehensions. Full Story 

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• Many border drug smugglers avoid prison

  By Joe Ellis, KXAN-TV Nov. 16, 2016

  In two key counties, less than a quarter of the “high-threat criminals” arrested by Department of Public Safety troopers for felony drug offenses during the state’s border surge have been sent to prison. Full Story