Category: Borders & Migration
Migrants Speak as Thousands Continue to Arrive
Tijuana, Mexico – The influx of migrants from Central America arriving near the United States border continues. We returned to the Benito Juarez Stadium over the past two days. The first day, we spoke to Maria Louisa about her month-long voyage north, and the violence…
Tear Gas at Border as Asylum Seekers Attempt to Cross
Tijuana, Mexico – Groups of asylum seekers that marched to the U.S./Mexico border to protest delays in the asylum process on November 25 were tear gassed by police forces from the United States. The march from Tijuana ran into lines of Mexican riot police as…
Asylum Seekers from Caravans Gather Along U.S./Mexico Border
Mexico/U.S. Border – Unicorn Riot sent a team of two that spent five days from November 15 to 20, 2018 along the United States/Mexico border south of San Diego, California as caravans of asylum seekers arrived in Tijuana, Mexico. We witnessed coils of razor wire…
Not Guilty: A Precedent of No Accountability in Border Patrol Shootings
Tucson, AZ – In an Arizona federal courthouse on Wednesday, November 21, Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz was declared not guilty of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodriguez. The jury will return on December 11 to…
Verdict in Trial of Border Police Murder to be Announced This Week
Tucson, AZ – On Friday, November 16, a jury in the federal court in Tucson began deliberation in the ongoing second trial of Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz, who killed 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodriguez in 2012. The first trial this spring failed to convict…
Border Patrol Agent Back on Trial for Cross-Border Killing of Teenager
Tucson, AZ – Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz is being retried in court for the 2012 cross-border killing of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodriguez. In April 2018, Swartz was found not guilty of second degree murder with hung jury on lesser charges of manslaughter. A…
Military and Militias Deploy to US/Mexico Border to Confront Caravan of Asylum Seekers
President Donald Trump has deployed thousands of active-duty soldiers to the US/Mexico border to support the Department of Homeland Security in stopping a caravan of Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States.
A plan enacted on October 26, called “Operation Faithful Patriot“,…
Occupy ICE Denver Camps Outside GEO ICE Detention Center
Aurora, CO – On Sunday evening, immigrant rights and social justice advocates began setting up tents and tarps outside one of the biggest privately-owned ICE Detention Facilities in the country. This detention facility in Aurora is operated by the prison company GEO Group and has…