I think of this issue as a sort of progress report on three of the biggest issues facing the Western United States: climate change, homelessness and the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Barely a week into his administration, President Joe Biden hit pause on selling leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands. Of course, as Carl Segerstrom tells us, old hands in the West are fully aware that doesn’t mean the drilling will stop. It does, however, signal a welcome shift in policy.
American farmers of Punjabi origin in California’s Central Valley don’t need an alert. Some of them are already losing their farms. Wufei Yu profiles a vibrant community that has survived for over a century despite discrimination, only to now face possible defeat by drought.
Correspondent Leah Sottile examines how we criminalize being unhoused through the story of the life and death of an Oregon man caught in a cycle of homelessness and persecuted by the police. What started out as a traffic stop ended in a tasing death. Why did James Plymell have to die?
In this issue’s Facts & Figures department, Jonathan Thompson breaks down the numbers on the border wall, contrasting what was promised to what is there now. Meanwhile, Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos reminds us that the Borderlands are about much more than a wall. There’s humor and humanity there, too. And that’s always a good thing to remember.
Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hope on the border.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
