This week, we talk about the U.S. - Mexico border and the militarization of the borderlands with photojournalist Justin Hamel. We also talk about the upcoming special session of the New Mexico Legislature, which will start on Oct. 1.

Hamel currently works for The Waco Bridge, but prior to that, he’d been reporting from the borderlands since 2018. That means he reported through the first Trump administration, the Biden administration, and the beginning of the second Trump presidency. He talks about what he’s seen along the way, and humanizes some of the abstractions for people who think about policy instead of people. (And reminds us that concertina wire isn’t just some kind of decoration…)

Also mentioned in the podcast:

Deaths in the New Mexico desert surge after Texas’ border crackdown reaches El Paso (Uriel J. García, Texas Tribune, Patrick Lohmann, Yuriko Schumacher, Texas Tribune and Photos by Justin Hamel)

NM Gov announces Oct. 1 special session on federal cuts to healthcare, nutrition, public media (Patrick Lohmann, Source NM)

A few weeks ago, we shared an interview with Charlie Barrett of Oilfield Witness. That nonprofit was featured in a really good recent story from Inside Climate News and ProPublica, Trump Says America’s Oil Industry Is Cleaner Than Other Countries’. New Data Shows Massive Emissions From Texas Wells.

Music credits: Get Through it (Instrumental) by Neu Song and Mirror Mirrow (Instrumental) by Juniper Vale

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