I write about the people and places involved in the nation’s battles over immigration. It is an issue I have covered from many perspectives: on the border and the campaign trail, in state and federal courts, and from the grounds of state capitals. It is also a personal one for me: I am a fronteriza, a person who grew up on both sides of the dividing line between Mexico and the United States.

I am especially interested in the southern border and the power it holds in our national political discourse — perhaps no other symbol better represents the competing visions for our nation in this moment.