featured essay

Borderlands: A Photographer Explores Illegal Immigration in His Arizona Backyard

By Guest Writer, 1-16-07

	Caption: A group of 30 illegal border crossers get caught by the Border Patrol near Cobre Ridge, 23 miles west of Nogales, Arizona. See the full photo essay here

Illegal immigration, an issue that has periodically made its way into national news, became a national center-ring spectacle in the run-up to the 2006 elections. As someone who has lived within 10 miles of the Arizona/Mexico border for the past decade, I have witnessed the front line of an issue the rest of the country thought was something new. The environmental damage, the traffic accidents that kill dozens, the abandoned bales of marijuana on hiking trails, stolen vehicles, the discovery of the abandoned dead, and the persistent presence of Border Patrol vehicles and aircraft are a way of life here.

While the situation had become "normal" for me, the ever-increasing news reports from my area of Arizona made me aware that I was living in a special place under special circumstances. As the border became a place more people saw on the news, I focused on the images chosen to represent the situation. I often thought that the images lacked the vision of someone who lived here, and I felt the need to take my cameras into my own “backyard” and capture images that said more.

Click here to view the Borderlands slideshow.

Every weekend, and sometimes in the afternoon after my day job, I would point my Jeep toward the borderlands. Over several months I would travel more than 3,000 miles along remote, rough border roads, as well as hike smuggling trails seeking out what was happening in this part of the country.

As the weeks passed, the images slowly began to accumulate: the Border Patrol chasing endless waves of crossers, apprehensions, helicopters darting over grand landscapes, and the artifacts left behind by the desert ghosts heading north from Mexico. I would participate in pursuit and tracking operations with the Border Patrol and talk to border crossers I found on my own. These crossers often asked me for directions to Phoenix, more than 150 miles away, and seeing they had no water, I would give them what I had. Never once did I photograph these crossers, out of respect for their monumental journey and the danger in which they had placed themselves. Only after they had been apprehended by the Border Patrol, and with their permission, did I ever make an image of a crosser. I do not support how they come into this country, but when you look into the eyes of a man or woman risking death for a better life, you realize that we are all human.

As I look through the images I have created, I see a body of work that is both intimate and distant. After studying my results, I have come to love the fact that although I have shown so much, so much more remains hidden. To me, this reflects the complexity of the situation and the difficulty of the solutions. The dynamics of cause and effect, political goals and shortfalls, policy creation and enforcement, and human desire are endless...and thus, so is my creation of images from the southern deserts of Arizona.

Click here to view the Borderlands slideshow.


Phil Nesmith is a photographer currently based in southern Arizona. His work focuses on the creation of visual narratives, and he has worked on stories from the U.S. to Iraq and Bosnia. His recent projects have turned towards the art of traditional photographic processes, in particular the use of wet plate and dry plate tintype processing, as well as mixing digital and traditional processes. Some of his work can be seen on his FLICKR photostream. [End of article]

Dude, I really enjoyed your post titled Borderlands. I'd like to see a follow up story with some pics.

Adam, just click the image in the post to go to the photo gallery. Or, click here.

No.. More images.. Sorry. I liked the one's he had.

ah...welll you can check out Phil's photos on FLICKR at http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualadventure/

He's just posted a few more great border shots.

No matter how the picture is colored, described, enhanced or whatever, the fact remains that these people are breaking the law with no respect for the laws of this country nor the American people. Our taxes keep going up to keep paying for the thousands of births of illegal women, the emergency rooms filled with them and not paying the bills, the welfare, food stamps and housing subsidies for the illegal children. Right, illegals can not draw welfare but once they have children the children have a right to it and the whole family benefits. They do not respect our way of life yet they bring their corrupt culture and lifestyles with them and demand rights only accorded to citizens of the United States. They don't seem to think that they should have legal papers yet we have thousands of other foreigners waiting to come in the legal way and desiring to become true Americans. They know what the consequences are yet once here they have more rights than Americans, thanks to our elected officiers who are aiding and abetting. They have brought down the wages for Americans by bidding themselves out to lower wages to obtain the work and Americans can not live on those wages with the high overhead it takes to live in this country. So, don't give me the "sympathy" story of them. I can't afford dental insurance and my health insurance keeps going up yet they get 100% free medical. There is something wrong with this picture.

Don't complain to me! I'm an Indian and, frankly, just flat disgusted with all of you immigrants!

For all the things wrong in the world that leave me righteously pissed off, and there are a lot of them, I suddenly feel quite blessed to not have to carry the hatred, for anything, that Tina seems to.

Great work, Phil.

A healthy look at the border from the inside out.

Tom Miller
(author, "On the Border")
Tucson, Arizona

Thanks for sharing these photos with us. Even though I've read a great deal about the border and illegal immigration, your photographs tell the story in a new way.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken a look at my border images. It is also nice to see some people taking the time to leave comments and post their personal feelings.

As the NFL referees say after checking a bad call, “On further review…” I have this suggestion: reconsider your policy not to photograph border-crossers until the Border Patrol has apprehended them. By doing this you separate them from the rest of the world, and tend to sanctify them. If you’ve talked to many of them, and it’s clear you have, you realize they’re normal Josés and Marías, nothing out of the ordinary. Photographing their struggle reveals what they’re up against. By only showing them after they’ve been popped does a disservice to them and to your viewing public. You photographed Border Patrol agents before and after apprehensions, why not their targets?

Tom-

This is a very good point and one I wondered if anyone would notice....as it is something that I had been worried about for a long time. The main reason is in many cases I cannot communicate with the crossers clearly enough as I do not speak Spanish beyond very simple words. Many times I am asked for rides to places and other assistance which I cannot provide. I find it difficult to make an image of someone standing in front of me who is wanting assistance (beyond immediate human needs) and then turn around and leave them there. What you have pointed out is the result of a lack of effective communication, both between a photographer and a subject, as well as between the photographer/writer and the reader.

As I have clear access to the agents they became something that I could show a clearer picture of. So the project began to shift to show more of the agents life on the border as they are a group of people which are part of the border environment who do not get studied as much as the crossers. Because others have much greater, natural access to the crossers, many of which have been telling their stories I felt that it is better to leave that to them. This explains the reason why you do not see many images of crossers in this essay or posted on Flickr.

The New West essay is something that was put together with some of the material that has already been collected. My closing comments in the introduction were ment to serve as a notice that this essay is by far from an end all document about the situation here on the border or about the lives of those who live here or pass through the area. Your comment reflects that it was not effective.

I would like to talk/write with you directly about the feeling of seperation that you have identified. If you would like to, contact Chris Lombardi at NewWest and he can pass you my direct email.

Great work, both written and photographed. Thanks for sharing.

i think that immagration is stuid and unfair!!!!

I work at a large human rights organization and I am putting together a project on immigration. I think your photographs are… wonderful, for want of a better word. Could you please email me at as I would like to ask you if I could use some of your pictures from the border at an ideas fair.
Best wishes,
Kate