edge of civilization
Yesterday I finally met up with a Ranch owner willing to work on my photo story with me. Larry Vance sat me down in his livingroom next to his wife curled up with their dog and told me the border's history as he's lived it for the last 20 some years. I told him straight up that I needed pictures that show his interaction with illegal immagrants to show how it affects him personaly. He insisted that he didn't patrol his land (patroling has gotten a bad rap in the media). But after a few hours of talking he agreed to bring me along in his truck while he and a few of the other ranchers drive around their border land and call in illegal immagrants to the border patrol. Should be a fun and very cold night. Mr.and Mrs. Vance are more of those super friendly nice people I told you about. I show up on their doorstep after a long day of work and he spent a long time warning me about how to stay safe and where not to go. Now if my second story idea pans out this well I'll be rocking it.
Leaving the Vance's ranch I was driving down a dirt road back to the main highway when I drove up to a border patrol officer who'd caught 3 young girls in the desert scrub on the side of the road. They couldn't have been older than 17 but my guess is 15. I stopped to take pictures and the officer said I couldn't take pictures of people's faces. I heard him say that the girl in the middle sobbing into the lap of one of the others was 5-6 months pregnant. I guess she'd wanted to have her child in America. It was heartbreaking to listen to those girls sob, but at the same time I'm glad they were caught because between the three of them I only saw one half liter bottle of water. Too many people die that way in the desert. I snapped off 4 pics when his superior arrived and told me I couldn't take pictures until It'd been cleared with the public affairs officer. Just when I thought I'd learned how to deal with the police the BORDER PATROL puts up a fuss.
I'm off to civilization now. I was told by the Vances that if I drive an hour north to Seirra Vista there is ATT service up there and they can program my phone to work down here in Douglas minus the insane mexican roaming charges. Wish me luck because the trac phone I bought isn't working down here either. It really is the edge of the world. :)
Leaving the Vance's ranch I was driving down a dirt road back to the main highway when I drove up to a border patrol officer who'd caught 3 young girls in the desert scrub on the side of the road. They couldn't have been older than 17 but my guess is 15. I stopped to take pictures and the officer said I couldn't take pictures of people's faces. I heard him say that the girl in the middle sobbing into the lap of one of the others was 5-6 months pregnant. I guess she'd wanted to have her child in America. It was heartbreaking to listen to those girls sob, but at the same time I'm glad they were caught because between the three of them I only saw one half liter bottle of water. Too many people die that way in the desert. I snapped off 4 pics when his superior arrived and told me I couldn't take pictures until It'd been cleared with the public affairs officer. Just when I thought I'd learned how to deal with the police the BORDER PATROL puts up a fuss.
I'm off to civilization now. I was told by the Vances that if I drive an hour north to Seirra Vista there is ATT service up there and they can program my phone to work down here in Douglas minus the insane mexican roaming charges. Wish me luck because the trac phone I bought isn't working down here either. It really is the edge of the world. :)
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