NACO, Arizona-Sonia Urcadez despertó una mañana de octubre con el sonido de camiones de cemento bordeando la calle en frente de su casa, levantando nubes de polvo que oscurecieron el amanecer y su vista de las montañas de San José. Eran las 6 de la mañana y a cien pies de su casa, acababa de…
Children in Southern Arizona are more likely to be living in poverty than anywhere else in the state. This discrepancy has far-reaching consequences beyond simply a bad childhood, and is the primary reason for Arizona having the sixth worst poverty rate in the country. This is despite the fact that statewide, the rate of poverty in…
Our taxi driver was supposed to be taking us a few blocks down the road for dinner. But we’d been in the cab, weaving around other cars, aggressively accelerating then quickly breaking for at least 10 minutes. “Almost there!” He would assure us over the blaring Spanish rap CD in the car stereo. The three…
Wind whips through the dry grass at the base of the U.S.-Mexico border fence where Tim Foley stands smoking a cigarette and surveying vast wilderness of the Altar Valley. Here, just west of the Sasabe border crossing, the 20-foot tall steel fencing abruptly gives way to straggling barbed wire as the physical border, so easily…
One day, three cities, five people. The trip from Douglas to Naco to Nogales is a classic look into the American Southwest. The sun is hot, there is a sea of yellow grass, and each downtown vaguely emanates the Wild West. Along the endless stretches of highway, however, modernity breaks up the timelessness. U.S. Border…
