Platon: Life and Death on the Border

Roland Sylvain, 35 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Sylvain, who says he left Haiti for the U.S. at age 7 and became a legal resident, now faces deportation for allegedly forging his cousin’s signature on traffic tickets in 2001. He poses with his wife Joeddy, 30, and their son Joland, who are both U.S. citizens. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Pablo Garcia Gamez, 52 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Garcia Gamez, left, a Venezuelan, and his partner of 20 years, Santiago Ortiz, a Puerto Rican, registered as domestic partners in New York City in 1993. They were married in Connecticut in 2011, and Garcia Gamez gained permanent resident status in 2013, he says. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Melida Ruiz, 52 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Ruiz, pictured with her daughter Mercedez, 19, and grandson Christopher, 1, is a legal resident who was arrested in 2011 and detained for seven months while she fought deportation based on a 2002 misdemeanor drug conviction. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Marta Garcia, 53 | Tijuana, Mexico | Aug. 2, 2013 Garcia says she came to the U.S. from Mexico illegally two decades ago and married a U.S. citizen, raising three children. She says she returned to Mexico in 2012 to see her dying mother and that when she tried to re-enter the U.S. six months later, she was arrested and deported. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Angie Kim, 29 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Kim and her brother Peter, 27, arrived in the U.S. from South Korea with their parents when Kim was 9, she says. Their father became a permanent resident through marriage to a U.S. citizen. Peter became a citizen, but Kim did not because she was over 21, she says. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Hilarion Warren Joseph, 46 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Joseph is a green card holder and decorated veteran of the Gulf War whom U.S. immigration officials detained for three years while they unsuccessfully sought to deport him after his conviction for transporting weapons. His son Japeri wears his uniform. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Fermina Lopez Cash, 47 | Phoenix | Aug. 1, 2013 Lopez Cash says her 13-year-old son Omar, pictured, tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to join his family in July 2010. Almost three years later, his remains were found in the Arizona desert. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Alina Diaz, 53; Lidia Franco, 33; Gisela Castillo, 35; Marilu Nava-Cervantes, 46 | Washington, D.C. | July 15, 2013 Diaz , Franco, Castillo and Nava-Cervantes are members of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, which advocates for female farmworkers rights, including prompt wage payment and protection from sexual harassment. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Evie Liu, 23 | New York City | June 14, 2013 Liu says she was trafficked to the U.S. at age 18 by smugglers who promised her employment but then demanded $98,000. She received a visa as a trafficking victim in November 2011, according to her lawyer. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Mike Wilson, 64 | Tucson, Ariz. | July 31, 2013 Wilson, a volunteer with Humane Borders, leaves water in the desert for migrants and leads search missions when they are reported missing. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Robin Reineke, 31 | Tucson, Ariz. | July 30, 2013 Reineke, director of the Colibrí Center for Human Rights, holds the personal effects of unidentified border crossers. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Tucson, Ariz. | July 30, 2013 Personal effects found with migrant remains, like this watch, are cataloged at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner in Arizona. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Tucson, Ariz. | July 30, 2013 At the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, the remains of migrants found near the border are inspected and stored. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Kathleen Velazquez, 18 | Phoenix | July 29, 2013 Velazquez says her partner was arrested last year in Maricopa County, Ariz., for working with false documents. She says he spent more than 10 months in immigration detention and missed the birth of his son Aaron, pictured. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Phoenix | July 29, 2013 Advocacy organization Puente took dozens of undocumented immigrants from Phoenix to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on this bus in the summer of 2012. Platon / Human Rights Watch

Evelyn Velazquez, 3 | Phoenix | July 29, 2013 Velazquez's mother says her partner was arrested last year in Maricopa County, Ariz., for working with false documents. She says he spent more than 10 months in immigration detention and missed the birth of his son. Platon / Human Rights Watch

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