What it’s like to cover the border from inside a violent Mexico

Imagine you are a reporter for an American newspaper.

You are doing a story on Mexican immigration. You make arrangements to cross the border into Mexico and meet with someone who is going to help you interview several adults and children who are attempting to cross the border to migrate into the United States. You head into Mexico and find yourself in a dangerous border town that is a battleground between two competing drug cartels.

When you meet your contact, a police car pulls alongside your car. You then realize that the Mexican policemen in the car that has just pulled alongside yours are working for one of the rival drug cartels.

Arizona Republic reporters Bob Ortega and Daniel Gonzalez are the guests in this week’s Think Tank. They share some of their best stories based on their reporting of both Mexican and Central American immigration and prison conditions in Arizona over the last several years.

The stories are sometimes harrowing, sometimes insightful and always interesting.