Vilma Carrillo and her 12-year-old Yeisvi stand for a portrait on Jan. 17 in Phoenix, Ariz. Carrillo, an indigenous Mam woman from Guatemala, and her daughter Yeisvi were separated by I.C.E. in 2017 and reunited in January 2018 in Phoenix.
Labyrinth (2015-2023) is a reflection on the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and criminalization of migration in the region. I aim to document some of the effects that punitive and racist policy has on the communities who are Indigenous to the land and settled on it. The work shows destruction of the environment and people enduring and thriving despite trauma endured due to policies that aim to inflict harm to deter Black and brown people from migrating into the United States.
Continued border wall construction on Sept. 12, 2020 on O’odham land south of Hereford, Ariz. near the San Pedro River, which was cut in two by the border and further disrupted by the 30-ft steel bollard wall. The wall is opposed by the majority of people Indigenous to the land. The roads have been widened and graded and endangered cacti have been razed. Water for the concrete footer is being pumped from the delicate aquifer.
Aracely and Vincent in 2017.
La Palma Detention Center in Eloy, Ariz. has been a hotbed of COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.
Community organizer Máxima Guererro was arrested in the early hours of May 31, 2020 while leaving a Black Lives Matter protest in Phoenix and transferred to ICE custody. Community action got her out before she was sent to Eloy Detention Center, where there is a high rate of COVID-19. She faces no charges, but she still wore an ankle monitor when I photographed her on June 17, 2020 at home in Phoenix.
A CBP bus used to deport people drives past an action lead by Tohono, Akmiel and Hia C-ed O’odham and other native people against the further construction of the wall on O’odham land and violence against migrant people on Feb. 15, 2020 outside the Ajo Border Patrol Station Im Why, Arizona.
People assembled a stack of water gallons to represent those who die of thirst in the desert as they gather for the #KeepFamiliesTogether protest on June 30, 2017
at the port of entry in Nogales, Ariz.
Quitobaquito pupfish, or Sonoyta pupfish, an endangered species found only in Hia C-eḍ Oʼodham sacred spring Quitobaquito, seen on February 24, 2020.
Hia C-eḍ Oʼodham sacred spring Quitobaquito in February 2020 before ongoing wall construction reached the spring and ruptured the foundation.
Community leader and Phoenix City Council member for District 8 Carlos García in Phoenix on Oct. 14, 2020.
The sandhill crane migration in February 2020.
A car rally organized by Puente AZ on April 10, 2020 at La Palma Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona where there have been outbreaks of COVID-19.
Organ Pipe cacti ripped out at the construction site in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (Tohono O’odham land) seen on February 14, 2020.
No More Deaths Byrd camp on June 17, 2017, two days after a CBP raid that targeted migrants seeking humanitarian aid.
People participate in a car protest outside La Palma Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona. So far there are least seven detainees in Arizona with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and many ICE employees in the state have tested positive.
People make artwork for the May Day action at Puente Human Rights Movement on April 26, 2017 in Phoenix, Ariz.
