A resident of Otay, a neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico, says she sees a lot of journalists visiting her neighborhood to report on the new border wall being built. On March 13, 2018, President Trump visited a series of prototype walls, a block away from her home, as part his expansion of the wall along the southern border. Another resident of Otay, a self-described “coyote,” says that helping people to cross illegally has become more difficult since the wall has been built.

Rango, 33, squeezes back into the Mexico side of the border in La Playa in Tijuana, Baja California. Rango, who was recently living in the United States illegally, was deported to Mexico after living most of his life in Sacramento. He demonstrated to a group of friends how easy someone can squeeze through the border fence. After people recorded videos of him on the San Diego side, he struggled to get back onto the Mexico side of the border. The day before, a Tijuana resident who was also deported said, “I may cross the border just one more time. When I was first deported they took my tablet, phone, wallet, clothes, Nikes, X-Box, everything I own. I just want to see the beach again on the other side. I just want to see my family living in the United States."

Locals on the Tijuana side of the border wrote anti- deportation comments on the wall prototypes that President Trump showcased in 2018.

Many of the caravan members traveling from Central America, like this woman clutching her teddy bears, brought personal items with them on the journey. They now await word about their request for asylum at the Mapa Shelter in Tijuana.

Migrant children from Central America and Mexico wait as their parents know if their families number will be called to reach Asylum in the United States. Caravan members and locals from Mexico wait in line every day sometimes as early as 7 am to see if their number will be called. Many have to wake up hours earlier to catch a bus to make the announcements which happen every morning at the port of entry in El Chaparral.

Miguel Tomas Martinez Huerta now runs his own business at the Cocos La Iguana in Tijuana, Mexico. He was deported from the United States after living in California for 10 years and raising a family there. "I couldn't believe that I was deported. For the first five years I couldn't believe I had a wife and young daughters in California and I was sent to Mexico," Huerta said. Helped along the way, he says he found solace in working and letting go of drinking and starting his own fruit business stand.

Surrounded by the media from both Mexico and the United States, Leopoldo Guerrero Díaz, the Secretary General of Tijuana, answers questions on the first day of the the United States Homeland Security's Migrant Protection Protocols. "Tijuana has traditionally received thousands of migrants, but not in the manner they’re arriving now. No city in the country has the capacity,” Diaz said.

A minister prays over a resident at the Mapa

On the first day of the new Migrant Protection Protocols instituted by Homeland Security, on Jan. 25, 2019, Nya, foreground, who is from El Salvador, says goodbye to Maria (background), who is also from El Salvador, as she gets into a van with her child, headed to San Diego for processing for possible entry into the United States. However, Maria may soon have to return to Mexico due a more stringent policy for obtaining asylum in the United States.

A population of Haitians, including this child playing with his toy truck, have traveled to Tijuana hoping for their number to be called to obtain asylum in the United States. They are waiting at the Benito Juarez shelter in Tijuana.

“We have been waiting for around three weeks,” says Ana Madrid Gomez (center), who laughs with her daughter, Sasha Madrid (far left) as they pass the time at the port of entry in Tijuana. All members of her group, including Taina Leiva, and her daughter, Ruth Leiva (far right) are migrants originally from Honduras.

A long line of people wait to cross back into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in January 2019. This Tijuana/San Diego border has 63,000 pedestrians passing through every day. Added to these numbers, continuing uncertainty surrounding the negotiations for funding the wall and controlling entry into the United States has added to the chaotic life along the border.