The sun sets over the border in Nogales, Ariz. An average of 40,000 people cross the border into Nogales, Ariz. everyday, and in Arizona people from Mexico spend approximately $7.3 million each day statewide, according to the Arizona-Mexico Commission.
Both cities of Nogales, “Ambos Nogales,” rest side by side along the border between the United States and Mexico, and each day thousands of people cross the border and commerce is conducted across the border in various forms. These two cities rest in two different countries, but the economies of both cities are intertwined. All photographs were shot on the weekend of Feb. 8-9, 2014 in Nogales Ariz. and Nogales, Sonora. (All photographs by Ryan Revock)
Yessenia Camarena has worked at Style for Less, a women’s fashion store in Nogales, Ariz., for the last five years. Approximately, nine out of 10 customers at the store come from Nogales, Sonora, Camarena said. The price for clothes is “roughly double” in Mexico compared to the United States.
Keyla Riesgo (right) walks with her son, Andres Beltran (left), towards the border crossing into Mexico in Nogales, Ariz. Riesgo bought groceries and a new front bumper for the family car. The Arizona-Mexico Commission estimates more than 60 percent of Nogales’ sales tax comes from people who live in Mexico.
A train crosses the border into Nogales, Ariz. from Nogales, Sonora. Some 150-200 railcars cross the border between the two cities of Nogales, according to Arizona-Mexico Commission report.Israel Cadena Caballero is the co-owner of Broquelito Curio in Nogales, Sonora. The shop specializes in crafts and has been open nearly a year. Ninety percent of the shop’s business comes from Americans, Caballero said.
