At Freedom Park in Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach, California, Dylan Terrazes of Santa Barbara touches his grandmother’s fingers as they meet for the first time. The park sits at the end of the 1,933-mile U.S.-Mexico border. On weekends, Border Patrol permits families to gather on both sides of the fence. Small holes in the barrier allow only minimal contact—just enough for a touch of fingertips. Visitors call them “pinkie kisses.”
The Border
An undocumented immigrant from El Salvador sits in the back of a police cruiser after being apprehended while fleeing along Route 281, north of Edinburg, Texas.
Hidalgo County Constable Sgt. Aaron Moreno walks through the remains of a stash house in Edinburg, Texas. Human traffickers use these houses to hold undocumented immigrants while arranging to smuggle them past Border Patrol. Migrants are often held hostage as smugglers extort additional money from their families to continue the journey north.
Hidalgo County Deputy Constable Raul Salinas approaches suspected undocumented immigrants during a home raid in Elsa, Texas.
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Ruben Garza Jr. comforts two children as their bus is searched at a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas.
Undocumented immigrants sit in the kitchen of a stash house after a raid by Border Patrol, Homeland Security, and local constables in Edinburg, Texas. The 12 individuals found were from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Law enforcement detains a suspect at a stash house in Edinburg, Texas, operated by a coyote—a human smuggler paid to illegally transport migrants across the U.S.–Mexico border.
A grave for an undocumented migrant is marked with the name 'John Doe' and a small wooden cross in Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, Calif., where unidentified migrants are buried.
The U.S.-Mexico border fence extends into the Pacific Ocean near Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach, Calif.