Photographs Registered With The US Copyright Office. Please Contact Info @ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests for these images. Images from the mid 1994 through 2000 show undocumented immigration during historically peak time. NPR reported on June 27, 2018 that the Migration Policy Institute's numbers show that 1.6 million undocumented immigrants were apprehended along the southwest border during the peak years from the late 1980s through 2000. "So when you go back to 2000, we had 1.6 million individuals apprehended coming into the southern border. In the late '80s, we were also seeing 1.6 million individuals being apprehended per year. So now, the numbers we're seeing this year and the numbers we saw in 2016 are closer to 400,000."--Sarah Pierce, policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute. These images are derived from many individual stories ranging from profiles on a small Texas border town under siege from smugglers to a migrant shelter in Tijuana helping stranded migrants to a look at heavily armed vigilantes patrolling the border. Also included are images from migrant camps tucked in the hills of the affluent San Diego community of Carlsbad, federal holding cells in Yuma, Arizona and more.

Central American migrants, mostly from Honduras, fleeing gang violence and death threats traveled nearly a month before arriving in Tijuana, Mexico where they planned to seek asylum at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Migrants must get their name on the list managed by another migrant and wait to be called. The wait is expected to take months. Thousands of names were already on the list as thousands of more migrants have arrived in recent days. The estimate is that 7,500 migrants are currently in the border city. FOR HUNDREDS MORE IMAGES PLEASE SEARCH "MIGRANT CARAVAN". ALL IMAGES AVAILABLE IN COLOR. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests. Images Registered With The US Copyright Office. © Todd Bigelow/2018

FOR HUNDREDS OF MORE IMAGES, PLEASE SEARCH MY ARCHIVE FOR "NEW AMERICANS". ALL IMAGES ALSO AVAILABLE IN COLOR. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests. Licensing Inquiries: Please Email Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com Licensing available directly through this website for editorial purposes only. Add images to cart and proceed through the options to create your license. All images are registered with the US Copyright Office. All licenses must adhere specifically to the options selected. © 2016 Todd Bigelow _________________________________________ It's widely reported and known that immigrant and minority communities are playing an increasingly important role in the election process. Traditionally, the GOP has struggled to win this segment of the populist vote. The role played by New Americans, those naturalized in the US but born elsewhere, will play an increasingly important role in elections especially given the large surge in 2016 by immigrants obtaining citizenship. Reports in the media indicate courts worked overtime to accommodate the large influx of citizenship applications and the most recent figures show a 21% increase over 2016. In fact, in ONE DAY alone, August 22, 2017, over 10,200 immigrants from more than 120 countries became US Citizens just in Los Angeles. The top countries represented were 1) Mexico; 2) Philippines; 3) China; 4) El Salvador 5) Korea; 6) Vietnam; 7) India; 8) Iran; 9) Guatemala; and 10) Canada THE BATTLE FOR VOTES: After receiving their citizenship, the "New Americans" exit the LA Convention Center and are immediately solicited to join the Republican or Democratic party. Democrats openly court the "New Americans" with an anti-Trump message. Donald Trump had called for a ban on Muslim immigration and is in favor of building a wall along the US/Mexico border. Can the GOP overcome this to register naturalized citizens to their party? Immigrants have registered pre-dominately as Democrats in urban areas such as Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. A Portion of This Project Was Published by PRI (Public Radio International) in October 2016. To View, Please Visit http://bit.ly/2e7MYMp. All images available in color. All photos are registered with the US Copyright Office. ©2016 & ©2017 Todd Bigelow

The town of Eagle Pass, Texas sits right along the US/Mexico Border and has long been a haven for immigrant and drug smugglers who sneak across the Rio Grande. Ranchers and local residents grew increasingly concerned over time as cross border violence escalated. ©Todd Bigelow/Contact Press Images. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests.

FOR MORE PHOTOS, PLEASE SEARCH MY ARCHIVE FOR "IMMIGRATION". ©Todd Bigelow/Contact Press Images. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests. Robert Maupin is a rancher who lives directly on the US/Mexico border. His family has owned the rural ranch in eastern San Diego county since the 1940's. Bob has long had to deal with undocumented immigrants using his property to enter the U.S. illegally and after Operation Gatekeeper forced the majority of crossers east from Imperial Beach, Maupin and friends began patrolling the border on their own. Called vigilantes by some, Maupin and his well armed friends and neighbors would stop the border crossers and detain them until the Border Patrol arrived.

FOR MORE PHOTOS, PLEASE SEARCH MY ARCHIVE FOR "IMMIGRATION". The US/Mexico border has long been a place of violence and danger as migrants and drug cartels battle to get their goods into the United States. Texas towns like Eagle Pass share the same problems as Arizona towns like Douglas and California's San Diego. Each border town has seen vigilantes, often times local border residents, patrol areas on the lookout for drugs and smugglers, while the Customs and Border Patrol agents play cat and mouse with migrants and smugglers. There's no simple answer, but for some living on the border, they feel the answer is to take matters into their own hands. All Photographs © Todd Bigelow. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests.

Undocumented migrants have trouble getting across the US/Mexico border and rely on shelters in border towns such as Tijuana and Piedras Negras to collect themselves before trying again to sneak across. Many find their way to migrant camps tucked in the hills of wealthy communities where the migrants find work in nearby fields. Others often end up in run down housing that also caters to migrant field workers. Images ©Todd Bigelow/Contact Press Images. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests.

MIGRANTS BY SEA FOR TIME MAGAZINE FOR MORE IMAGES FROM THE SEA AND LAND ALONG THE US/MEXICO BORDER, PLEASE SEARCH MY ARCHIVE USING THE KEYWORD "IMMIGRATION" Undocumented immigrants are taking to the waters to circumvent the difficult border crossing by land into the United States from Mexico. The US Customs and Border Protection, formerly the US Border Patrol, and other marine interdiction agents have stepped-up their air and marine patrols in an effort to stem the crossings by sea. The increased patrols are also designed to stop the flow of firearms from the United States into Mexico. The weapons are believed to fuel the narcotics war raging in Mexico's border towns. All Images ©Todd Bigelow and Are Registered With The US Copyright Office. ©Todd Bigelow/Contact Press Images. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests.

TO LICENSE, SIMPLY ADD THE IMAGE TO YOUR SHOPPING CART. FOR MANY MORE IMAGES, PLEASE SEARCH MY ARCHIVE FOR "MINUTEMEN". Minutemen from various states converged in Las Vegas, Nevada for a summit where speakers like Barbara Coe and others spoke about illegal immigration. The Minutemen movement is devised of mostly ordinary citizens who want to take control of the US/Mexico border and often advocate doing so themselves. ©Todd Bigelow/Contact Press Images. Please contact Info@ToddBigelowPhotography.com with licensing requests.