Border Crossing:

Desperate Mexican migrants with nothing left to lose, U.S. ranchers driven to violence or driven out, police task forces hunting the undocumented - these are just some of the casualties of the immigration war.

Despite Washington's landmark programs to decrease illegal immigration - Operation Gatekeeper in California and Operation Rio Grande in Texas - migrants remain undeterred, driven northward by the intractable poverty of Mexico. As they try to dodge the beefed-up U.S. Border Patrol, migrants are forced to find much more dangerous routes into the United States.

Meanwhile, in remote areas along the border, ranchers besieged by the flood of migrants and drug dealers see their traditional way of life coming to an end. In California, some are resorting to violence, forming vigilante patrols to hunt down the migrants. In Texas, ranchers are arming, too, but many feel the situation is hopeless and are simply moving away.

Explore the U.S. / Mexico border with Aurora photographer Todd Bigelow as he documents the human toll of the immigration war.

Explore visually by choosing thumbnail images (above) or linearly from start to finish by Topic (left).

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