Deported musician Jose Marquez visits his daughter Susanna and 14-year-old grandson Johnny who are both on the U.S. side of the fence. Jose and his daughter have been separated for almost 15 years since he was deported from the United States after living and working in San Diego for almost two decades. Once a month, they see each other through the metallic fence at Friendship Park.
Griselda San Martin
Solis Home, South Point, TX"I don't have a backyard, I have a border fence," Melissa Solis says. When construction of the fence started on their land that has been in the Solis family for generations, "All my mom did was cry. (...) You know, you come to realize in the United States, you can't really be free, it's just like any other country," Melissa, a school administrator, adds. According to the Cato Institute, the United States ranks 17th on the Human Freedom Index.
Elliot Ross
MCALLEN, TX - OCTOBER 18: A Customs and Border Protection agent scans the Rio Grande on the U.S.- Mexico border on October 18, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. U.S. Air and Marine Operations agents fly over border areas, coordinating with Border Patrol agents on the ground to stop undocumented immigrants and drug smugglers from entering the U.S. Immigration and border security have become major issues in the American Presidential campaign.
John Moore/Getty Images
PENITAS, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 10: U.S. Border Patrol agent Carlos Ruiz apprehends a mother and daughter from Ecuador on September 10, 2019 in Penitas, Texas. The undocumented immigrants had been hiding for hours in a cotton field after border agents detected and chased their group earlier in the day.
John Moore/Getty Images
Beef with Ladd, West of Naco, AZ. Despite being the face of the local far right movement and conservative agenda in the Naco, Arizona, rancher John Ladd doesn’t support the construction of a new border wall. He cites the ineffectiveness of the current wall in relation to the taxpayer dollars spent on it as his primary concern. “We don’t need [immigration] reform, we just need to enforce the laws we have. Immigration is one reason we’re broke, and border communities take the brunt of it.”
Elliot Ross
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 05: "Dreamer" Gloria Mendoza, 26, tries to hold back tears after learning that President Trump had ended the DACA program on September 5, 2017 in New York, United States. Mendoza, who said she came with her undocumented parents from Mexico City when she was 9, will face possible deportation when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program expires March 5, 2018, if Congress does not take action. Mendoza took part in a protest where police arrested demonstrators for blocking the intersection in front of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
John Moore/Getty Images
San Luis Regional Detention Center.
Greg Constantine/Seven Doors
A group of Muslims pray outside Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City Friday, February 3, 2017. Jummah prayer, a congregational service held every Friday by Muslims, was hosted at the airport in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.
Kholood Eid
Janela Ordoñez, 25, from Colón, Honduras. Facebook voice note to her sister. Nov. 21, 2018. Hi, Juli. I’m Jane, your sister. I send you my regards from … (laughs) … from Tijuana. And we want to tell you that we love you so much, all of us, your family. Thank God we met a friend, and he offered us to message you. Send my regards to all the family and friends. Tell everyone who asks for us that we love them so much, and if God allows it we will achieve our goal, and well. … We will keep in touch further along because we don’t have a way to communicate. Take care of yourself, and God bless you forever, today, tomorrow and always. Do not forget that we love you.
Luis Antonio Rojas
Eusebio Diaz, 29, from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. WhatsApp voice note to his wife. Nov 20, 2018. Well, Jenny, I’m calling you to tell you that I’m doing fine. It’s Chevo. I wanted to tell you that we are on our way to Tijuana. And well, thank God we’re doing fine. We wish to make it to Tijuana alive. Take care. I love you so much, and I’ll always be there, looking after you. Keep the money in case I need it, when I arrive to Tijuana I will call you. And if God allows... we’ll see what happens. Pay attention to your phone.
Luis Antonio Rojas
A local rests by the side of a road, unable to cross a bridge due to a police blockade in the outskirts of Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico, on October 27, 2018.
Luis Antonio Rojas
Little brother in our parents’ family room as he takes a stroll with the hatta/ia’akaal.
Kholood Eid
After an evening shower, Daniela, 9, (left) and her sister Dulce, 10, (right), wait for their hair to dry in a church pew. "We never thought of living in a church," says Dulce. “I feel there are ghosts all around me and they see me. But I also like living here. It is a beautiful place.”
Cinthya Santos Briones
This still was created while in production of Let Them Have Water. The film is about the legacy of humanitarian aid in the desert and the government's recent attempts to criminalize these efforts
Laura Saunders
This still was created while in production of Let Them Have Water. The film is about the legacy of humanitarian aid in the desert and the government's recent attempts to criminalize these efforts
Laura Saunders
Pastor Jonathan and wife Gladys at their wedding photoshoot in front of the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico. The border is a symbolic place for Jonathan and Gladys, who both grew up in California but now live in Tijuana separated from their whole family. Jonathan was deported and Gladys doesn’t have papers to legally reside in the United States. She tried to cross over three times to be with her children but was caught by the border patrol and returned to Mexico.
Griselda San Martin
