This work documents families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. A seemingly relentless push of so many toward what is believed to be the American dream continues to create a complex and shadowed reality.

Immigration is not only a personal issue to me but also a humanitarian crisis that is eclipsed by political discourse and capital neglect. I sought to photograph the plight of families crossing the border in a way that felt tangible and mirrored the unknowing journey of thousands of refugees. The decision to cross the border at Eagle Pass in Tijuana or the Rio Grande River in Texas is not an easy one and poses critical risks for any who make the journey- especially children.

I have watched children fight for food at refugee camps and slept on the dirty floors of shelters housing over 400 migrants. I saw motherless children surrender with no shoes along the border wall. I witnessed the heartbreaking scenes of hundreds of families floating and swimming the Rio Grande River while gunshots sounded in the distance. The hopeless exhaustion of each migrant arriving on American soil was palpable as they waited hours to be processed and transported to detention centers.

As I look at the faces in my photographs, I know most of them would be sent back where they came from- or forced into a refugee camp anywhere else. The ongoing series is a testament to the power of national identity and the role of individual origin. It questions where we as people come from and what we are willing to leave behind in hopes of a better future- a cycle of impossible choices forgotten in the long trails of footprints left by those who cross.

Find the full series here: https://www.svetjacqueline.com/crisis-at-the-usmexico-border

Those Who Cross 01

A family self-surrenders to the United States Border Patrol agency at Eagle Pass in Tijuana, Mexico.

Those Who Cross 02

Migrants create a human chain to help one another cross the cold waters of the Rio Grande River in Del Rio, Texas.

Those Who Cross 03

Maria looks up at her mother after being sent back to Mexico following an attempt to cross the Rio Grande River.

Those Who Cross 04

Migrant families wait to be processed and transported after arriving in La Joya, Texas.

Those Who Cross 05

Migrant “runners” wait handcuffed after trying to evade Border Patrol in La Joya, Texas.

Those Who Cross 06

Children reach for humanitarian aid at the refugee camp at the Tijuana-U.S. border.

Those Who Cross 07

Children run by the break in the border wall at Eagle’s Pass in Tijuana, Mexico.

Those Who Cross 08

A raft carrying families seeking asylum in the United States arrives in Roma, Texas.

Those Who Cross 09

A raft of America-bound migrants wade in the darkness on the Rio Grande River.

Those Who Cross 10

A mother holds her young child after crossing the Rio Grande River in Roma, Texas.