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U.S. Focus: Immigration in Arizona

In the second story of a new collaboration between Magnum and Le Temps, Larry Towell travels to Arizona with reporter Léo Tichelli to document the current situation near the wall between Mexico and the United States

The U.S.-Mexico border wall. Nogales, Arizona, USA. July 2024. All images © Larry Towell / Magnum Photos

Four Magnum photographers have teamed up with two reporters from the Swiss newspaper Le Temps to document key issues in the United States ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in November.

Alongside journalist Simon Petite and Léo Tichelli, photographers Eli Reed, Larry Towell, Cristina de Middel and Peter van Agtmael explore themes of economy, democracy, abortion, foreign policy, and immigration in several key states. The collaboration will also explore images from the Magnum archive in special publications in October and November.

For the second report in the series, Larry Towell traveled to Arizona in July 2024 with Tichelli to document ongoing challenges and local perceptions regarding immigration at the Mexican border. Over the course of several days, they met with Tucson Samaritans and U.S. Border Patrol, bearing witness to the climate of heightened tension in the region.

Border patrol officer Robert Ortiz at the border wall. Arizona, USA. July 2024.

The border between Mexico and the United States is the second deadliest land crossing in the world, according to the Migration Data Portal, and Arizona’s border is one of the most isolated and dangerous of the nine geographic sectors of the Mexico-U.S. border, making immigration a crucial issue for state residents as they choose between Republicans and Democrats ahead of November’s presidential election.

Migrants from India who had just crossed the harsh and often violent Sonora desert await the U.S. Border Patrol for processing. Sasabe, Arizona, USA. July 2024

The U.S.-Mexico border wall. Nogales, Arizona, USA. July 2024.

“As President, I will immediately end the migrant invasion,” Donald J. Trump said via Twitter on September 15. “I will save our cities and towns (…) across America,” he added. Trump’s criminalization of immigration has been a major theme of the Republican candidate’s campaign since the beginning.

An abandoned migrant camp, flooded by a monsoon. The camp had been set up on U.S. side of the border wall by Samaritan groups providing food, water, and shelter to migrants who’d crossed the harsh (...)

Remnants of the old U.S.-Mexico 17-foot “Bill Clinton” wall (left) replaced by a newer and higher 27-foot wall (right). Each pillar is filled with concrete. Sasabe region, Arizona, USA. July 2024.

Steel gate opened to allow debris from flash floods to pass. Sasabe region, Arizona, USA. July 2024.

But what emerged from the Le Temps report is that migration is more of a humanitarian than a security issue, and that the violence comes from the cartels that control the border rather than the migrants trying to cross it.

“In the Americas, more than 89200 people have been reported dead or missing during migration since 2014,” the Migration Data Report states. “More than half of these deaths were documented on the border between Mexico and the United States, which is the second deadliest land crossing in the world.”

Trump store illustrates local sentiment in one of America’s main swing states where U.S.-based militia groups “tour” the region for asylum seekers. Tombstone, Arizona, USA. July 2024.

“Migrants often suffer extortion, rape, and abandonment in the desert, while U.S. presidential candidates from both parties pander to a public sentiment for “increased security” fueled by right-wing rhetoric about being “overrun,” says Towell, adding that they come from China, Mexico, India, Central America, and countries in Africa fleeing “gang violence, war, persecution, economic collapse, and global warming.”

One of thousands of wooden crosses erected by activists on the spot that a migrant’s body was found in the dangerous and often deadly Sonora desert as they attempt to cross into the U.S. to claim a (...)

A road sign. It is difficult to find road signs that have not been shot up. Rural mail boxes are also a frequent targets. Arivaca, Arizona, USA. July 2024.

“According to the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona, illegal crossings from Mexico into the U.S. have dropped dramatically since President Joe Biden’s executive order of June 4, 2024, barring migrants who enter illegally from claiming asylum,” reports Towell, who has been documenting migration on the Mexican border for almost 10 years.

Migrants from India, who had just crossed the harsh and often violent Sonora desert to await U.S. Border Patrol for processing, flag down a Samaritan car in a desert monsoon. These men, from a larg (...)

A migrant camp at the end of wall set up on the U.S. side of the border by Samaritan groups providing food, water, and shelter to migrants who’d crossed the harsh and often violent Sonora desert to (...)

A migrant camp in a monsoon, set up by Tuscon Samaritans to provide food, shelter and water for migrants on the U.S. side of the border in spite of President Joe Biden’s executive order to bar migr (...)

While reporting the story, the photographer was denied access to the local paramilitary group, Tuscon Border Recon.

“They poison water supplies and steal food left by Samaritans,” says Towell, adding that their spokesman, Tim Foley of Arivaca, Arizona, believes humanitarian groups should be fined, and that other far-right vigilante groups such as Q-Anon, the Minutemen and the Proud Boys are patrolling the border.

Two young men sit on the Mexican side of the border before crossing over. Migrants wearing camouflage shed this clothing when they cross to evade the U.S. border patrol. Sasabe region, Arizona, USA (...)