Border patrol | Reason Archives (original) (raw)

Tom Homan | Annabelle Gordon/CNP / Polaris/Newscom

Immigration

Workplace Raids

Plus: Land acknowledgements, New York's migrant expenditures, and more...

Liz Wolfe | 11.11.2024 9:30 AM

The Tijuana side of the U.S./Mexico border fence, with a tower in the background that holds a camera on top. | imageBROKER/Jim West/Newscom

Surveillance

Decades of border surveillance programs have spent billions of dollars but achieved little.

J.D. Tuccille | 10.23.2024 7:00 AM

Joe Biden walking along a barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border | Photo: Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

Immigration

Biden's Election Year Border Order

The president's plan to address security at the Mexican border drew backlash both from immigration advocates and border hawks.

Fiona Harrigan | 7.7.2024 6:00 AM

A young girl with a backpack and a passport in an airport terminal | Romrodinka | Dreamstime.com

Immigration

Brickbat: Are You Sure That's You?

Charles Oliver | 7.3.2024 4:00 AM

Customs and border protection officers and Drug enforcement administration special forces participate in a training. Unrecognizable people in black | Photo 150686161 | Airport © Belish | Dreamstime.com

Immigration

The Manufactured Crisis of Migrant Terrorists at the Border

Exaggerated threats of terrorists crossing the southern border lead to costly, disproportionate policy decisions.

Alex Nowrasteh | 4.19.2024 10:16 AM

Dave Smith and Chris Freiman on Just Asking Questions. | Illustration: Lex Villena

Immigration

Dave Smith vs. Chris Freiman: What's the Ideal Immigration Policy?

Podcast host Dave Smith and philosopher Chris Freiman debate open borders on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions.

Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe | 3.28.2024 12:29 PM

border | Polaris/Newscom

Immigration

Border Pageantry

Plus: Putin threatens nukes, D.C. mulls a crackdown on theft, Bloomberg blames right-wingers, and more...

Liz Wolfe | 3.1.2024 9:30 AM

President Biden | CNP/AdMedia/SIPA

Border Crossings

Border Bill Blows Up

Plus: Biden's sagging poll numbers, the Amazon Files, and more...

Robby Soave | 2.6.2024 9:30 AM

Texas Department of Public Safety black vehicle. | From March 2021 to July 2023, 74 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in vehicle chases occurring in counties affected by Operation Lone Star.

Police Abuse

Texas Troopers Killed 74 People in Vehicle Chases Since Implementing Controversial Border Program

From March 2021 to July 2023, 74 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in vehicle chases occurring in counties affected by Operation Lone Star.

Emma Camp | 11.28.2023 4:31 PM

The U.S. Capitol is seen surrounded by red money | Illustration: Lex Villena; Lunamarina

Government Spending

Politicians Continue To Make a Mockery of 'Emergency Spending'

Legislators abuse the emergency label to push through spending that would otherwise violate budget constraints.

Veronique de Rugy | 8.24.2023 7:00 AM

Border Patrol bodycam footage | Police bodycam video/YouTube

Government abuse

Newly Released Video Shows Border Patrol Shooting Man Who Called Authorities for Help

Agents claimed to see a gun that wasn't there. Video reveals nervous officers with a hunting mentality.

Brian Doherty | 6.27.2023 4:29 PM

A U.S. Border Patrol agent looks through binoculars while patrolling. | Maxironwas | Dreamstime.com

Search and Seizure

Feds May Need Warrants To Search Cell Phones at the Border After All

Snooping through emails, video, and photos isn’t the same as stumbling on containers full of cocaine.

J.D. Tuccille | 6.16.2023 7:00 AM

Venezuelans Fleeing Socialism 2 | NA

Immigration

A new study by the conservative Manhattan Institute concludes that the expansion of private sponsorship parole to migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela has reduced illegal migration across the southern border by about 98,000 per month.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.28.2023 5:11 PM

immigration-border-patrol | Illustration: Lex Villena; Carl Neitzert

Border Crossings

Border Patrol Shoots and Kills Arizona Man Who Called Them for Help

The FBI is investigating the shooting, but Supreme Court precedent from last year's Egbert v. Boule will make it nearly impossible for Raymond Mattia's family to find justice through civil courts.

Brian Doherty | 5.22.2023 5:03 PM

Security cameras pictured next to the U.S.-Mexico border | Illustration: Lex Villena; Edgars Sermulis, Tomascastelazo

Immigration

The Government Is Turning Border Surveillance on Everyday Americans

As the government sets its sights on migrants crossing the border, native-born Americans have also come under its watchful eye.

Fiona Harrigan | 3.28.2023 11:15 AM

Break up the Department of Homeland Security into fewer, smaller agencies that are more accountable to pre-9/11 departments. | Lex Villena, Reason

Department of Homeland Security

DHS Just Turned 20. It's Time To Abolish It.

Break it up into fewer, smaller agencies that are more accountable to pre-9/11 departments.

Nick Gillespie and Justin Zuckerman | 3.8.2023 10:34 AM

shadowed figures of two people holding bags walk toward a flying American flag as seen through a hole in a barbed wire fence | Photo 186902785 © Robert Goebel | Dreamstime.com

Immigration

A Historic Refugee Crisis Miscast As a Border Emergency

Providing legal ways to work or seek protection in America is the only viable way to reduce illegal immigration.

Stuart Anderson | 1.26.2023 4:00 PM

Priscilla Villarreal is seen next to a copy of a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit | Saenz Photography; U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit

Free Speech

This Court Case Could Make It a Crime To Be a Journalist in Texas

Priscilla Villarreal found herself in a jail cell for publishing two routine stories. A federal court still can't decide what to do about that.

Billy Binion | 11.4.2022 10:03 AM

Blue fentanyl pills over an image of the U.S.-Mexico border | Illustration: Lex Villena; Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Hyde, DEA

Drugs

Don't Blame Migrants and 'Open Borders' for Fentanyl Entering the Country

U.S. citizens traveling through legal ports of entry—not undocumented immigrants—are primarily to blame for fentanyl inflows.

Fiona Harrigan | 10.17.2022 6:20 PM

A surveillance blimp floats over the U.S.-Mexico border | Illustration: Lex Villena; Gene Zhang, David Ryder/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Borders

Border Patrol Launched a Surveillance Blimp Over Nogales, Arizona. Town Officials Didn't Know.

Residents of Nogales are now under the gaze of a round-the-clock surveillance craft.

Fiona Harrigan | 7.8.2022 3:15 PM

A tractor-trailer against a map of San Antonio, Texas | Illustration: Lex Villena; Mikhail Rudnitckii

Immigration

'Prevention Through Deterrence' Is How You Get 53 Dead Migrants in the Back of a Truck

The men, women, and children found dead in a tractor-trailer this week were just the latest casualties of an immigration approach that encourages dangerous journeys.

Fiona Harrigan | 6.30.2022 5:03 PM

zumaamericasthirty920746 | Cheney Orr/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Immigration

Strict U.S. Immigration Laws Leave Migrants Dependent on Human Smugglers

Human smugglers at Mexican border won’t be sought after if migrants can come to the U.S. legally.

Stuart Anderson | 5.24.2022 8:00 AM

borderpatrol_1161x653 | Allison Dinner/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Border patrol

Why Does Border Patrol Need the Ability To Delete Messages?

A lawsuit attempts to find out how federal agents are implementing Wickr, a communications service that has an auto-erase function.

Scott Shackford | 4.4.2022 2:15 PM

MIgrant children surender REASON | David Peinado / Pacific Press/Newscom

Immigration

CDC To Stop Using COVID as Excuse To Expel Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors

There are no public health gains from booting kids out of the country.

Julian Verdon | 3.23.2022 8:00 AM

border patrol crossing | Mani Albrecht/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Immigration

Court Says U.S. Cannot Expel Migrant Families to Countries Where They Face Harm

A federal judge wrote that migrants could face "horrific consequences" if expelled to certain places, particularly Mexico and Central American countries.

Julian Verdon | 3.10.2022 1:45 PM

spnphotosten282762 | Yuri Gripas / Pool via CNP / SplashNews/Newscom

Criminal Justice

A Border Patrol Agent Assaulted Him and Violated His First Amendment Rights. He May Never Get To Sue.

It is almost impossible to hold a rogue federal officer accountable. The Supreme Court may make it even harder.

Billy Binion | 1.28.2022 5:06 PM

topicsimmigration | Photo: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty

Immigration

Haitians Meet the New Deporter-in-Chief

Biden presented himself as the immigration antithesis of Trump, but such promises have not been kept.

Billy Binion | 1.13.2022 6:00 AM

thumbnial | Illustration: Lex Villena; Studio Barcelona, Jonathan Cutrer, Dreamstime

Surveillance

Government Eyes In the Sky

The federal government and police are finding new ways to use drones to invade privacy.

Jay Stanley | 10.12.2021 7:00 AM

Untitled | Screenshots from @SawyerHackett/Twitter

Reason Roundup

U.S. To Continue Cruel Treatment of Haitian Refugees—But Not on Horseback

Plus: Debt myopia, tech trade groups sue over Texas social media law, abortion providers ask SCOTUS to reconsider, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.24.2021 9:48 AM

zumaamericasthirtytwo410480 | Raquel Natalicchio/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Government

Brutal Treatment of Asylum-Seekers Is the Reality of Government

That’s why its role in our lives should be reduced to the minimum.

J.D. Tuccille | 9.24.2021 7:00 AM

zumaamericasthirtyone077812 |  David Peinado/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Border Crossings

How Immigration Clampdowns Create 'Border Crises'

Today's mediagenic crowds at the border in Del Rio, Texas, are a predictable and unnecessary result of restrictive migrant policies.

Brian Doherty | 9.16.2021 5:02 PM

book3 | Bombardier Books

Book Reviews

A Clear and Present Lack of Danger

We can stop obsessing about Islamic terrorists crossing the Southern border.

Alex Nowrasteh | 9.4.2021 6:00 AM

dreamstime_xl_115726512 | Photo 115726512 / Arizona Tucson © Maxironwas | Dreamstime.com

Immigration

Abolish ICE? Actually, Biden's Budget Proposal Hikes Spending on America's Immigration Cops.

More spending on more intrusive government is the Biden agenda all the way down.

Eric Boehm | 6.3.2021 10:30 AM

zumaamericasthirtyone148416 | John Lamparski/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Immigration

Migrants from over 160 countries have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months.

Fiona Harrigan | 6.2.2021 2:15 PM

dreamstime_m_150025832 | Photo <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/us-mexico-border-crossing-mexico-side-nuevo-progreso-tamaulipas-mexico-us-border-crossing-image150025832">150025832</a> © <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/asterixvs_info" itemprop="author">Valentin Armianu</a> - <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/us-border-crossing.html">Dreamstime.com</a>

Privacy

Warrantless Border Searches Draw Call for Supreme Court Action

The feds say they can paw through your phone and laptop any time you enter or leave the country.

J.D. Tuccille | 4.26.2021 8:30 AM

dpaphotosfive002341 | Stringer/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom

Immigration

Joe Biden, Border Cop

People on both the left and right assumed Biden would lift Trump’s draconian immigration restrictions. But for some hopeful immigrants, things have actually gotten worse.

Billy Binion | 3.18.2021 5:11 PM

icycamera_1161x653 | Konstantin Shevtsov / Dreamstime.com

Brickbats

Brickbat: Stopping an Invasion from the North

Charles Oliver | 3.8.2021 4:00 AM

polspphotos482697 | Paul Hennessy/Polaris/Newscom

Reason Roundup

U.S. Used Facial Recognition on Millions of Air Travelers Last Year, Found No Imposters

Plus: Biden won't pursue Trump's TikTok and WeChat bans, Mitt Romney's child allowance plan, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 2.12.2021 9:32 AM

Screen Shot 2021-02-10 at 2.18.06 AM | Screenshot, YouTube

War on Drugs

The Zoom Cat Lawyer Used Federal Agents To Torment a Former Lover With Drug Raids and Bogus Charges

In 2014, Reason reported on the misbehavior of Rod Ponton, who has suddenly risen to internet stardom after being unable to turn off an adorable filter during an online legal case.

Billy Binion | 2.10.2021 9:54 AM

phonetracking_1161x653 | Sergey Chuyko / Dreamstime.com

Brickbats

Brickbat: Closely Tracked

Charles Oliver | 12.8.2020 4:00 AM

polspphotos481563 | Bob Daemmrich/Polaris/Newscom

Reason Roundup

545 Migrant Kids Snatched by the U.S. Government Are Still Missing Parents

Plus: What Jeffrey Toobin teaches us about Section 230, Wisconsin's Foxconn boondoggle, Breonna Taylor juror speaks out, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.21.2020 9:43 AM

It doesn't need to exist | Erik McGregor/Sipa USA/Newscom

ICE

Immigration Nation Brilliantly Captures the Brutal Logic Behind America's Immigration Enforcement Regime

The new Netflix docuseries is a damning indictment of ICE.

Shikha Dalmia | 8.21.2020 2:50 PM

CBP-FOIA | Reason

Border patrol

CBP Official Allegedly Said Agents Should 'Beat That Tonk Like a Piñata Until Candy Comes Out'

The 2012 internal affairs report complaint was filed by a use-of-force instructor who warned the advice could lead to lawsuits.

C.J. Ciaramella | 7.28.2020 11:25 AM

NavyDude | Guardians of Democracy

George Floyd

Sending Secret Police To Do Protester Snatch-n-Grabs Is Bad, Mmmkay?

The Reason Roundtable talks Portland, policing, federalism, coronavirus, and the perennially dumb discourse.

Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Nick Gillespie | 7.20.2020 3:10 PM

sipaphotosten032347 | Yichuan Cao/Sipa USA/Newscom

Coronavirus

The Feds Are Suspending Some Tariff Payments. They Should Suspend All of Them.

It's almost like Americans are paying for them, and like Trump doesn't actually believe in free trade.

Eric Boehm | 3.25.2020 12:30 PM

Hernandez v. Mesa | EL UNIVERSAL Agency / EVZ

Borders

Supreme Court: Mexican Family Can't Sue Border Patrol Agent in Cross-Border Shooting

"A cross-border shooting claim has foreign relations and national security implications."

Zuri Davis | 2.25.2020 4:50 PM

Greyhound-bus-Wikimedia | Wikimedia Commons

Fourth Amendment

Greyhound Finally Says No to Random Border Patrol 'Checks' of Its Buses

The company cited a recent federal memo clarifying that agents are expected to obey the Constitution.

Jacob Sullum | 2.24.2020 1:00 PM

Customs and Border Patrol | Danny Raustadt/Dreamstime.com

Borders

Iranian Americans Targeted by U.S. Authorities in the Wake of Soleimani's Death

The Trump administration is treating people of Iranian origin like a potential fifth column.

Matthew Petti | 1.23.2020 2:30 PM

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