A Visual Tour of the Lives of Deportees in Tijuana

Ted SoquiCulture

A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Two border fences in the hills of TijuanaA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.A new Tijuana community dubbed "Little Haiti" is home Haitian and African refugees. Some have started to build housing in the canyon.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Tijjuana's "Little Haiti" may have previously been a tire dump.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Haitian immigrants inside a shelter for deportees located near the Zona Rosa. Many of the Haitian refugees sleep on wooden pallets covered with donated blankets.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Jimmy Gomez and his family inside the Hotel SalazarA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Jimmy Gomez and his family inside the Hotel SalazarA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Jimmy Gomez and his family inside the Hotel SalazarA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Jimmy Gomez and his family inside the Hotel SalazarA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.he was caught and did three years at Taft Correctional Institution.A Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.José Arce at work in his Tijuana tattoo shopA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.José Arce at work in his Tijuana tattoo shopA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.the largest migrant shelter in TijuanaA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Jorge Romero in his shelter room at Casa Del MigranteA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Rogelio Díaz De La CruzA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Rogelio Díaz De La CruzA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.her husband on the other side.; Credit: Ted SoquiA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Daniel Armendariz visits his wife and children the only way he canA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.Daniel Armendariz visits his wife and children the only way he canA Tijuana church holds services at the border fence every weekend.

In the sweeps of arrests that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out in L.A. in early February, 161 undocumented immigrants were netted — the first significant enforcement surge of the Trump presidency. There is more to come.

Tijuana has since become the abrupt home of those and thousands of other recently deported people. Yearning to get back to their families — and with few ties to their birth country — they're unable to move on. Read staff writer Jason McGahan's cover story, “In Tijuana, the Recently Deported Are Trapped in Purgatory.”

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