If Birds Could Fly Between Cages

Teenage migrants from 18 to less, accompanied and not, share what they miss about their home.

Following the cancellation of the “Stay in Mexico” program by President Joe Biden, the migration

of minors was notorious in recent months. Juvenile detention centers in the US began to become overcrowded and a focus of attention of the crisis in which migrants live. Concisely, the Biden government abolished the policy of returning unaccompanied minors to Mexico, whose cases are now processed within the States.

Canceling the “Stay in Mexico” program, the Matamoros Tamaulipas camp was dismantled in January 2021, where at some point it concentrated around 2,000 migrants, including several minors who fled off adverse situations.

However, the cancellation of the program without an alternative plan led to another migrant camp in Tijuana. Where around 1500 people, among adolescents, accompanied and not from Central American countries, the Caribbean and Mexico have installed small tents, now without an answer to what is coming on this side of the border, being adrift in Mexican territory until further notice.

According to the different news media more than 9,400 minors, from toddlers to teens, arrived at the border without their parents in February of this year. Being 3 times more than the previous year.

Bio: Emilio Espejel is a Mexican photojournalist currently based in Mexico City. His work is focused on migration, human rights, portraiture, violence, and travel journalism.

His work has been published in, The Guardian, Associated Press, Dagens Nyheter, National Geographic, and more.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilio_espejel/