Jonathán Hernández, 21 years old.
Jonathán is travelling from Veracruz, Mexico to New York where he has lived on and off for the last five years.
Diego Ramirez, 22 years old.
Diego, from Guatemala City is travelling for his first time to the North. He said he would like to get to California, most likely Los Angeles. He is excited to send money back home to his wife and his recently born son.
Enrique from Tegucigalpa Honduras
At the time this photo was taken Enrique was headed to the US to find work. “If that doesn’t work out I can always sell drugs.”
Guillermo Rojas Ávila
Guillermo was travelling from Tegucigalpa to Los Angeles to start his life over and support his family. “There’s no work back home and it’s too dangerous for a young man to live without getting involved in organized crime.”
Miguel Sandoval, 25 years old.
Miguel was being recruited by gangs in El Salvador and decided to leave and head north instead of running the risk of not joining. He says this way he can send money home and not be forced to get involved in the gang lifestyle.
Eduardo ( Left ) and Carlos
Both are from the same county in El Salvador but didn’t know one another until they met on top of a train in Mexico. This brought them together as travellers. Carlos had no specific destination but Eduardo has family in a town in Ohio. So Carlos decided to travel there with Eduardo.
Rodrigo Carriles Matute
Rodrigo was travelling from Cortés Honduras and headed to reunite with his wife and children in Los Angeles California.
Pablo Hernandez 22 años
Pablo was travelling from Cortés Honduras and was headed to the United States with no particular destination.
Carla Rosales Murillo
Carla was travelling from El Salvador to Birmingham, Alabama where her cousins have been working for the past 2 years.
Manuel Cortés Álvarez 17 years old
Manuel was travelling from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to find good paying work in the United States. He said, “I’m strong, I’m a great worker.”
Enrique Camarena Aguilar 23 years old
Enrique at 23 years old travelled from Copán Honduras and was headed to the United States, most likely Los Angeles he said. “There are lots of problems in Honduras and no work, there’s always work in the US and lots of blonde American women too.”
Diego and Erica from Tabasco Mexico
Diego and Erica were travelling to Tabasco, Mexico from Florida. Each year they travel on top of trains to visit their family in Florida. They stay for some weeks and then head back to Mexico.
Pedro Salido Gutiérrez, 23 years old
Pedro Salido Gutiérrez, 23 years old from Francisco Morazán, Honduras was travelling to the United States for work. He said he would be happy with any work he could find.
Pedro Ochoa Ramírez 51 years old from Chiapas Mexico
Pedro told me he has two daughters living with foster parents in the United States. Pedro was deported from Los Angeles following a fender bender after living undocumented for years. His record has a minor drug possession from over 20 years ago. As a result he was deported and his daughters were put in a foster home. He says he will spend the rest of his life trying to get them back.
Regina Robles Cárdenas, 15 years old
Regina was travelling from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the US. She said she had hopes of being able to buy her own cellphone, her own car and rent her own apartment. Regina was travelling with a companion who had recently introduced her to sniffing paint thinner to get high on their journey.
Josué Martinez Robles from El Salvador, 16 years old
Josue is an evangelical Christian, a member of the Shekinah Canton Quitasol Church in Tejutla, Chalatenango, El Salvador. He was travelling North to preach through his faith and music, and to find work.
Daniel Martín García 21 years old
Daniel Martín was travelling from Tegucigalpa Honduras to the US without any more specific destination. He was hoping to work in anything that he could find work in. He said he always dreamed of living and working in the US and now he was ready to make that a reality.
Roman Armando Guillen from San Pedro Sula Honduras
Roman was travelling to the US in hopes of helping his family monetarily. “There is no work in Honduras, the situation is very difficult, impossible actually.”
Young couple from Tabasco, Mexico
Both decided to stay anonymous. These two were travelling directly to the northern border to cross into the US. She was 20 years old at the time of the photo and he was 23. They have a newborn they left with the grandparents to free them up to travel to the US in order to support the baby. About their trip to the US, as new parents, they said it was time to “do the right thing.”
Ramón Piñera González 12 years from El Salvador
Ramon Piñera González 12 years old Ramón was travelling from San Salvador, El Salvador to the US with his dog in order to “seek out adventure” and help out his mother in Salvador financially.
The following portraits were shot on a concrete rooftop and nearby railroad tracks in Guadalajara at a resting spot for migrants travelling from both Central America and Mexico to cross the border into the US as undocumented workers for hopes of a safer and better life. I had the opportunity to take their portraits and briefly hear about them, and their current situation.
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