🔥 USE YOUR RIGHTS — AND RECOGNIZE YOUR PRIVILEGE. Coming out of the desert after a long, hot search today, we hit the temporary Border Patrol checkpoint on NM Highway 9. Agent: “Are you U.S. citizens?” Us: “Yes.” Agent: “Where are you headed?” Me: “Doesn’t matter.” Agent: “Okay. Have a good day.” Me: "BYE." And off we went. But remember... We're white. I can calmly decline to answer an unnecessary question, get a quick “okay,” and drive away. A Latin X family, a person with an accent, an Indigenous person, or someone whose citizenship an agent decides to question may have a very different experience at that exact same checkpoint. That shouldn't be ignored. Our rights are like muscles — use them or lose them. But there's another part to it: A right you can safely exercise because of how you're perceived isn't experienced equally by everyone. Doing humanitarian work in this desert has changed the way I see these institutions. We've walked the places where border policy h...