Your Source for NPR News & Music

September 11th attack led to unprecedented border security buildup, changes in daily life

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Angela Kocherga

A lot has changed along the border since September 11, 2001. The attack led to the creation of the massive, cabinet-level, Department of Homeland Security and disruptions in daily life for those who cross back and forth. An estimated $330 billion has been spent ramping up border security including doubling the size of the Border Patrol, now the largest law enforcement agency in the country. There's also more technology for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry who screen people and cargo entering the United States.  Additionally, drones, Black Hawk helicopters and a network of surveillance cameras help CBP keep an eye on the border. But twenty years later a question persists: are we safer? KTEP’s Angela Kocherga reports. 

This story is a collaboration between KTEP public radio and The Dallas Morning News where you can read an expanded version of the storyand see photos.

journalists_9-11_border_mixdown__1_.mp3
KTEP News Director and reporter Angela Kocherga and Alfredo Corchado, Mexico border bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News have a conversation about covering the changing southwest border before and after the September 11th attack 20 years ago.

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Related Stories
  1. Texas charging another large group of migrants with “riot participation”
  2. El Pasoans catch glimpse of solar eclipse
  3. Texas criminally charges more than 200 migrants involved in alleged “riot” at the border
  4. Lebanese migrant allegedly tied to terrorist group appears in federal court with a black eye