Since 2019, Mexico’s immigration policies have taken a hard turn, transforming from a sanctuary for migrants to a fortress of rigid enforcement. The border crisis is a volatile mix of evolving US policies, COVID-19 restrictions, and political chaos in Central and South America. US deportation tactics, initially masked as COVID-19 measures under “Title 42” and later continued under “Title 8,” have trapped thousands in Mexican border towns. These areas, plagued by corruption and cartel violence, force migrants into makeshift camps fraught with danger and deprivation.
The US-Mexico alliance in shutting out asylum seekers and enforcing draconian immigration measures has erected insurmountable barriers for the desperate. These policies symbolise a stark rejection of refuge and safety for the vulnerable. Photographer Alejandro Cegarra, a migrant from Venezuela to Mexico in 2017, began to shed light on the harsh realities faced by these communities.
His series ‘The Two Walls,’ which won the World Press Photo Long- Term Project Award 2024 award, powerfully explores the struggle for belonging, the relentless quest for home, and the urgent outcry against human rights violations. As Venezuela’s political and economic situation deteriorated, Cegarra faced a tough choice. “I wanted to leave because the situation was dire. There was no food, no medicines, and there was an escalation of political repression and civil rights abuses,” he explains.
