AltWeeklies Wire
Your Tax Dollars at Worknew

As stressed immigrant communities live in fear, law-enforcement agencies reap financial rewards.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
11-18-2010 |
Immigration
Immigration 101new

Becoming a legal immigrant is more complicated than you might think.
Tucson Weekly |
Mari Herreras |
09-02-2010 |
Immigration
Murder of Arizona Rancher Provokes Border Outragenew
Will the murder of a respected Arizona rancher change anything on the U.S.-Mexico border?
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
04-28-2010 |
Immigration
Border Wars Go High-Technew
Border crossers have motivated a series of fascinating technological innovations.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
04-01-2010 |
Immigration
The Town of Arivaca Attempts to Recover After a Grisly Double Murdernew

A double-murder in the small border-area town of Arivaca, Arizona, has the nation's anti-immigrant movement reeling. We have mementos from the night that armed intruders entered the modest home of Raul and Gina Flores, the 911 recording of Gina among them.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
01-13-2010 |
Immigration
A Congressman Uncovers Two Studies Showing the Impacts of Illegal Immigration, Smugglingnew
The federal government's border fence has been called the Tortilla Curtain. But in the swamp of border politics, there's a more effective barrier at play, one that filters ideas rather than people. It explains why most Americans still don't fully understand the disaster on our southern border.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
Water Rights: An Activist Faces Prison after Refusing his Sentence for 'Littering'new
On Dec. 4, a year after he was cited for littering on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, activist Walt Staton was back in federal court, because he refused to pick up garbage.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
A Border Project Faces Accusations of Lobbying Pressure and Wasted Moneynew
According to some critics, the push for consolidating services at the Nogales port comes from the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, a powerful trade group representing 125 produce dealers, brokers and distributors who import Mexican fruits and vegetables. Big money is at stake: In Nogales, produce has grown into a $2 billion industry.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
10-07-2009 |
Immigration
One Border Coyote and His Accomplice Have Been Captured and Released 35 Timesnew
The story the Popes tell opens a window on the world of alien- and drug-smuggling, and the criminals who operate within it. It also shines a light on a system that fails citizens in multiple ways, the most maddening being the number of times these crooks are set free to strike again.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
09-16-2009 |
Immigration
One Arizona Sheriff Deals With the Challenges and Realities of Today's Bordernew
When Tony Estrada was a child in Santa Cruz County, there was no wall. Estrada misses those days. But when one is sheriff of a border county, there's not much chance for wistful melancholy.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
08-28-2009 |
Immigration
Tensions Between Humanitarians and Federal Officials Rise Along the Bordernew

The humanitarians provide assistance, food and water to migrants. The feds mostly leave them alone to do so -- until recently, that is. Over the past couple of years, federal agencies have been putting more activists under the gun.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
07-08-2009 |
Immigration
Does the Border Patrol Deserve More Respect From the New Administration?new
As the Border Patrol settles into the 21st century, it does so with plenty of baggage, from a reputation for ethical haphazardness to being viewed as a lesser partner in federal law-enforcement huddles. Add to that a persisting stove-pipe management structure that straitjackets reform, and you'll find an agency that often seems more anchored in the past than the present.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
02-05-2009 |
Immigration
Tags: Immigration, U.S. Border Patrol
In One Struggling Mexican Town, A Group of Women Has Big Goalsnew
A rancher's wife and a small group of women from Fronteras formed a women's cooperative, took on the local government and proudly became known as Las Chicas Bravas.
Tucson Weekly |
Mari Herreras |
01-15-2009 |
Immigration
Arizona Leaders Dish Up a Homeland Security Wish Listnew
Many wonder whether even the politically facile Janet Napolitano can master the bureaucratic beast known as DHS.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
01-15-2009 |
Immigration
Charges Against Border Activist are Mysteriously Droppednew
As the judicial dust settles in the Kathryn Ferguson case, one thing has become abundantly clear: This crude affair amounts to little more than a shameful, low-brow, law-enforcement bullying, followed by an appalling lack of accountability from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
10-09-2008 |
Immigration