Rio Rico, Ariz. — Luis Martinez holds his younger sister Amor during a visit to the river wash where they and their grandmother ended their nearly two-day walk with smugglers who guided them to Nogales, Ariz.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Rio Rico, Ariz. — American citizens Dominga Leyva and her grandchildren, Luis and Amor, visit the Arizona end of the smuggling route they hiked from Mexico. "I thought I would be scared to come back here," Leyva said. "But I think it's a big relief that I have now. Thank God we were OK."
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Nogales, Mexico — Luis Martinez, left, sits with his sister Amor and his grandparents during a visit to Nogales, Mexico. A year before, they had slept in this park after Luis and Amor were denied entry into the United States.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Rio Rico, Ariz. — Dominga Leyva holds corroded pennies she scavenged on the streets of Nogales, Mexico, where she and her grandchildren were homeless and destitute.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Nogales, Mexico — Dominga Leyva stands with Amor and Luis at the pedestrian border gate in Nogales, Mexico. This is where the grandchildren were denied entry into the United States because they lacked proper identification. "I felt really bad, like I was being betrayed by my own country," Luis said. "I wanted to yell, 'I'm an American!'"
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — Children play in the dirt yard of the two-room elementary school next to Luis Martinez's aunt's house in Sinaloa, Mexico. U.S.-born Luis went to school here but dropped out because he couldn't learn in Spanish. He later went to work in the fields.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — One of Luis Martinez's cousins carts dried corn through his impoverished farming village in Sinaloa, Mexico. Nearly every house is patched together by hand, and clothing is washed in an irrigation canal.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — One of Luis Martinez's favorite ways to cool off under the hot sun in Sinaloa, Mexico, was to play in the irrigation canal with friends.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — Friends and relatives of Luis Martinez enjoy sodas at his cousin's store in the farming village of Cuatro Milpas, Mexico.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — Cowboys young and old herd livestock in the village where U.S.-born teenager Luis Martinez learned to ride and rope.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Mochis, Mexico — "Chuey" Hernandez lights a bottle rocket to scare crop-eating birds in Sinaloa, Mexico. Luis Martinez says he enjoyed his days working as a chanatero -- a human scarecrow. He split the $10-a-day wages with his grandmother.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Nogales, Mexico — Luis Martinez, right, brings food to his step-grandfather, Juan Leyva, in Nogales, Mexico. With his school ID and birth certificate, the teenager can now make weekly trips across the border to visit Leyva.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Nogales, Mexico — Night falls over Juan Leyva's hillside shack in Nogales, Mexico. Leyva was deported in 2010 and has been unable to return to the U.S. In Utah, he had supported the family by working on construction crews.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
LinkMore galleries on Framework
return to gallery
reFramed: In conversation with Alex Prager
“reFramed” is a feature showcasing fine art photography and vision-forward photojournalism. It is curated by Los Angeles Times staff photographer Barbara Davidson.
Over the Edge fundraisers rappel down Westin Bonaventure Hotel
More than 100 people rappelled from the 32nd floor of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel during the second annual Over the Edge fundraiser for Los Angeles-area Scouting programs. Each... View Post»
Pictures in the News | May 20, 2011
Friday's Pictures in the News begins in Sweden with a masked man in Stockholm wrapped in the flag of the old Libyan monarchy flashing a victory sign during a demonstration in... View Post»
Oct. 29, 1943: Downtown Los Angeles is only partially aglow on one of the last nights of World War II dimouts -- when light use was restricted to save power as well as reduce... View Post»
