All 13-year-old Amayrani wants is to be able to study, learn English—and leave the migrant camp in Tijuana, where she waits with her mom and siblings for a chance to enter the United States.
If 16-year-old Cristhian can enter the United States, it will be the first time he has ever crossed a border. Targeted by gangs in his Mexican hometown, he dreams of the safety he might find on the other side.
Hemer dreams of making art and skateboarding—simple pleasures that felt out of reach in his native Honduras. Even if he is turned away from the United States, the 14-year-old says, “at least I would have tried.”
At eight years old, Santos already knows how the US–Mexico border works: “Some people might be locked up, and others might not.”