Vox Borders

Season 42017

Reporting from six borders around the world, Emmy-nominated journalist Johnny Harris investigates the human stories behind the lines on a map in a new series for Vox.com.

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6 Episodes

E01 Divided island: How Haiti and the DR became two worlds

Haiti and the Dominican Republic may share the same island, but there's a surprising amount of inequality between the two neighbors. If you're born in Haiti, you're over two times more likely to die as a baby compared to in the DR. Haitians are also almost 10 times poorer and are more likely to have a shorter life. To understand why this is the case, you have to look at the countries' past and especially how they were colonized.

October 17, 2017

E02 It's time to draw borders on the Arctic Ocean

The ice in the Arctic is disappearing. Melting Arctic ice means new economic opportunities: trade routes in the Arctic ocean, and access to natural resources. Because of this, the Arctic nations are now moving to expand their border claims. Russia has shown that it’s the most ambitious, using a potent combination of soft power and military buildup to advance its agenda. They’ve said the Arctic is rightfully theirs.

October 24, 2017

E03 Inside North Korea's bubble in Japan

For this episode I found myself embedded with a small community in Japan. They were born there, they speak the language. But they're not Japanese citizens, or even ethnically Japanese - they're North Korean. There's about 150,000 of them living in Japan today, and they've been there for over a century. This community has close ties with the regime in Pyongyang, which supports them financially (and vice-versa). But more importantly, Pyongyang offers them an identity, a heritage, and cultural legitimacy - things that some elements of Japanese society work to deny them.

October 31, 2017

E04 How the US outsourced border security to Mexico

For the first time ever in 2014, the U.S. recorded more undocumented migrants from Central America than from Mexico. In particular, 52,000 unaccompanied children were detained between October 2013 and June 2014. With what seemed to be a looming humanitarian crisis to deal with, the Obama administration enlisted the help of Mexico, and President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. Together, they launched the Southern Border Program initiative: the U.S. provided funding, equipment, and training to Mexico in exchange for a crackdown along Mexico's southern border. After all, many would-be migrants from Central America to the U.S. must pass through Mexico first. This policy worked for a few years, but levels of undocumented migrants are on the rise again. And the mounting human costs make it increasingly difficult to call a success.

November 21, 2017

E05 Building a border at 4,600 meters

For thousands of years, humans have drawn lines on the earth, dividing the planet into nations. But there are some parts of the world that no empire, nation or state has been able to tame. In this episode of Borders, Johnny heads deep into the Himalaya mountains to learn about how people have lived away from the concept of borders. China and Nepal are acting fast to develop this remote region and it's having major effects on the local population.

November 28, 2017

E06 Europe’s most fortified border is in Africa

The sixth episode deals with a border between Morocco and Spain. The journey to asylum is never easy. And perhaps no one knows this better than would-be African migrants to the European Union. In North Africa, on the border of Morocco, there's a Spanish town called Melilla. It's technically Europe. So undocumented migrants and refugees, asylum seekers, wait in limbo for a chance to scale the fence and apply for asylum in Europe. It's the first of many, many hurdles. And it's a tall one.

December 5, 2017

Vox Borders

E01 Divided island: How Haiti and the DR became two worlds

E02 It's time to draw borders on the Arctic Ocean

E03 Inside North Korea's bubble in Japan

E04 How the US outsourced border security to Mexico

E05 Building a border at 4,600 meters

E06 Europe’s most fortified border is in Africa

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E01 Divided island: How Haiti and the DR became two worlds

E02 It's time to draw borders on the Arctic Ocean

E03 Inside North Korea's bubble in Japan

E04 How the US outsourced border security to Mexico

E05 Building a border at 4,600 meters

E06 Europe’s most fortified border is in Africa