Los Angeles — At dawn, Luis Luna waits outside the warehouse where he works. His minimum wage job barely pays his rent, but it provides some stability in a country where he is locked out of most job opportunities.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Angeles — Luis Luna works in a used clothing warehouse in the neighborhood where he sold chocolates as a child. The owner remembered him and gave him a job.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Angeles — Luis Luna trades text messages to set up a basketball game after work. The cellphone was given to him by a friend after he returned penniless to Southern California.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
South Gate — Luis Luna, right, and his close friend Julio Cortez shoot baskets at a school in South Gate, a suburb of Los Angeles. Cortez was one of several U.S.-born friends who helped Luna when he was living on the streets of Mexico.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Angeles — Luis Luna lives in this converted two-car garage. Comparing the studio apartment to his homeless months in Mexico. he said: "I don't have to sleep in the streets no more. I can actually close my eyes and sleep until I wake up knowing that I'm going to be alive."
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Angeles — Luis Luna spent his childhood walking the streets of Los Angeles selling chocolates. Brought from Mexico by his mother when he was 3, he says the U.S. is the only country he knows. "I feel like an American," he says.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Los Angeles — Luis Luna takes a placement exam in an effort to earn his high school diploma. He was deported before he could graduate from high school.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Link
Anaheim — Luis Luna talks to students at South Junior High School in Anaheim about his harrowing attempts to cross the Arizona desert and return home. "They told me I was ready to die. I couldn't breath. I had a blank stare. The coyote said, 'I've seen this before, he's not going to make it .' "
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
LinkMore galleries on Framework
return to gallery
Pictures in the News | Jan. 4, 2013
In Friday's Pictures in the News: People leave Damara, the last strategic town keeping Central African Republic rebels from the country's capital, Bangui; Palestinians celebrate... View Post»
1933 Rose Parade - 'Fairy Tales in Flowers'
With the theme "Fairy Tales in Flowers," the 44th Tournament of Roses Parade occurred on Jan. 2, 1933. Mary Pickford served as grand marshal – the first woman and major... View Post»
Up in smoke: Old-school marijuana cultivators feeling squeeze from commercial entities
By Joe Mozingo LAYTONVILLE, CALIF. — In the mountains of Mendocino County, a middle-aged couple stroll into the cool morning air to plant the year’s crop. Andrew... View Post»
