Avery Ellfeldt

Located in Nogales, Sonora – just steps south of the U.S./Mexico International Border – twice a day, 365 days a year, the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) both feeds and fosters a community unlike any other.

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A binational organization that provides humanitarian aid, education and advocacy for migrants, KBI served over 11,000 people in transit in 2018, according to their annual report. 510 of them were under the age of 17, and 2,300 of them were between 18 and 22 years old. More than 4,500 reported being separated from their families when they were deported from the United States. 6,400 reported abuse by human traffickers, cartels, immigration agents, or the police, among others.

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Throughout the four weeks I spent in Nogales, Sonora with KBI, I cleaned and cooked with artists, soon-to-be-mothers, musicians, soldiers, students, single fathers, business owners and more. While those who file into KBI's comedor each day are rarely afforded permanence in Nogales, a temporary community manifests amidst the movement there, unified by transition, self-sacrifice and resilience. Some of the below images were later published in an ethnography entitled Voices of the Border by Georgetown University Press in July 2021. All of the photographs were taken with advanced warning and permission from the subjects.