U.S. Border Patrol Archives

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Immigrants walk to U.S. Homeland Security buses to be transferred to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen after crossing from Mexico on July 2nd, 2019, in Los Ebanos, Texas.

Immigration Courts Are Replacing Interpreters With Orientation Videos

The new measure is intended to reduce costs and accelerate proceedings, but even immigration judges are questioning it.

Isabela Dias

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent rides a snowmobile during a patrol on a frozen lake that splits the Canadian territory behind him and the U.S., near Norton, Vermont.

Social Justice

Undocumented Workers Are Especially Vulnerable to Border Patrol in Vermont

Recent arrests exemplify the danger that workers face in the supposedly progressive state.

Arvind Dilawar

A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle passes a Border Patrol Access Only sign near the U.S.–Mexico border.

Social Justice

The Authors of Offensive Posts in Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Have Yet to Be Punished

The agency won't say how many employees have been disciplined or warned in the ongoing scandal over offensive social media posts.

A.C. Thompson

Social Justice

What Latinx ICE and Border Patrol Agents Say About Arresting Immigrants

In 2016, half of all border patrol agents were Hispanic, according to DHS data.

Khushbu Shah

Immigrants wait to be transported to a U.S. Border Patrol processing center after they were taken into custody on July 2nd, 2019, in McAllen, Texas. The immigrants, mostly families from Central America, turned themselves in to border agents after rafting across the Rio Grande from Mexico to seek political asylum in the United States.

News in Brief

Why Did Border Patrol Arrest Fewer People in June?

New arrest numbers highlight the difficulties experts encounter in interpreting migration patterns.

Jack Herrera

A metal fence marked with the U.S. Border Patrol sign prevents people from getting close to the barbed/concertina wire covering the U.S.–Mexico border fence, in Nogales, Arizona, on February 9th, 2019.

Social Justice

‘A Pervasive Culture of Cruelty’: What a Secret Facebook Group Reveals About the U.S. Border Patrol

In the group, current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the death of migrants, posted vulgar images of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and shared racist memes.

A.C. Thompson

A signs warns of danger on the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, in Arizona, one of several live aerial bombing ranges that undocumented migrants often walk through.

Social Justice

For Many Migrants, the Last Leg of the Journey North Is Through a Minefield

The Air Force and Marines conduct live-fire drills on the Barry M. Goldwater Range—which also separates many migrants from freedom or death.

Arvind Dilawar

Social Justice

The Definition of ‘Refugee’ Is Out of Date. And It’s Leaving People Behind.

The international idea of who counts as a refugee is over half a century old. But today the lines between "refugee," "migrant," and "illegal border crosser" have all begun to blur.

Jack Herrera

This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent's uniform in McAllen, Texas, on January 15th, 2019.

Social Justice

Border Patrol Has a Long History of Agent Misconduct. Why Hasn’t It Been Addressed?

Under President Barack Obama the agency was under the microscope for reform, but under the Trump administration any progress toward that goal has been halted.

A.C. Thompson

Viewfinder: Pop-Up Installations Depicting Crying Children in Cages Appear in New York City

Police take away a pop-up art installation depicting a small child curled up underneath a foil survival blanket in a chain-link cage.

Pacific Standard Staff