A Honduran migrant walking along a path to reach the Mexican city of Tenosique after illegally crossing the Guatemala border. This is the first leg of their long and dangerous journey north to the U.S.; according to local organizations there are approximately 20,000 migrants who, along this route - every year - are victims of murder, robbery, kidnapping and rape. Tabasco, Mexico. Sept. 29, 2016.Alessandro Grassani
Walls – literal and figurative – are a prominent part of today’s global landscape. In 1989 there were 15 border walls worldwide, today there are almost 70. In a new project called A Wall In Between, photographer Alessandro Grassani sought to document our modern fixation with border control and the human stories caught on either side. “I want my photographs to reveal a sense of fear,” says Grassani. “They should reveal the fear of the people living in the rich countries who are supposed to accommodate the migrants. But also the fear of the migrants who are risking their life to cross those walls.”
Grassani started his project at the heavily politicized U.S.-Mexican border in 2016. “Many of the people I met during my journey to the U.S. border were leaving countries like El Salvador or Honduras because of violence, mostly gang violence,” he says. The journey can be as dangerous as the countries they are fleeing from; walking on foot through cartel land or boarding a treacherous train known as The Beast. Approximately 20,000 migrants every year are victims of murders, robbery, kidnapping and rape and 6,000 lose their lives, according to the International Organization for Migration.
As a photographer, Grassani witnessed some extraordinary scenes. One couple was living just few meters away from the U.S. border in Tijuana in what was, essentially, a hole in the ground. The rudimentary shelter, which the man, Jose, had dug with his bare hands, gave little protection from an area where drug sellers and traffickers are particularly prolific. Protection and support comes from charities and The Church, who have shelters dotted along the migrants’ trail, but also from fellow migrants. “The kindness and generosity I experienced along the way is the most impressive part of everything,” says Grassani. “They were always very open with me and very kind.”
There are many reasons why Trump’s wall proposal is untenable, not least that it likely won’t ‘work’. From Grassani’s experience, it is “unbelievable to think that you can stop a desperate population of migrants with meters of cement of wall,” he says. Grassani has witnessed the desperation and determination to escape a nightmare world back home and reach the promise of a new land. “These people are willing to risk everything to try and leave a future for their children and their family,” he says. “There is nothing that can stop them. They will find a way to cross the wall; if not by land, then by sea. They will find a way to go to the other side.”
A Honduran migrant walking along a path to reach the Mexican city of Tenosique after illegally crossing the Guatemala border. This is the first leg of their long and dangerous journey north to the U.S.; according to local organizations there are approximately 20,000 migrants who, along this route - every year - are victims of murder, robbery, kidnapping and rape. Tabasco, Mexico. Sept. 29, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIn the outskirts of the Mexican city of Huixtla, in the state of Chiapas, the migrant route that follows the railway tracks and goes from Ciudad Hidalgo, a town on the Mexico / Guatemala border, up to the Mexican city of Ixtepec. Migrants walk on this route for about 400kms until Ixtepec, where they will be able to take the freight train, nicknamed “The Beast” by the migrants because it is extremely dangerous, in order to continue their journey north to the U.S. in a faster way. Chiapas, Mexico. Sept. 25, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniA group of undocumented Central American migrants rafting across the Suchiate River, which is the border between Mexico and Guatemala, illegally entering Mexico near the town of Talismàn. Chiapas, Mexico. Sept. 21, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIn the surrounding of the town of Talismàn, two smugglers and a mother with her son are illegally crossing the Rio Suchiate. The smugglers are going to Mexico while the mother with her son are going back to Guatemala, it is normal here to cross the border only to go shopping in Mexico. Guatemala. Sept. 21, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIn the surroundings of the Mexican city of Tenosique a group of illegal Central American migrants is traveling on a freight train headed north to the U.S. Tabasco, Mexico. Sept. 29, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIn the town of Caborca, a family of Central American illegal migrants has climbed onto a freight train headed north to the U.S. Sonora, Mexico. Oct. 22, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIllegal Central American and Mexican migrants wait in line for a hot meal delivered every morning by a group of volunteers from the city of Caborca. Caborca, Sonora, Mexico. Oct. 6, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAt the so-called Hotel Migrante of Mexicali, a city on the border with the U.S., there are hundreds of African migrants (mostly from Congo and Ghana) who crossed the entire Central American continent from Brazil where they arrived by plane. They are waiting to enter with temporary visas in the U.S. Baja California, Mexico. Sept. 26, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAn illegal immigrant from Congo in the Tapachula migrant's home rests after a long journey by land from Brazil. He is preparing to take the bus for a three-day trip that will take him to Tijuana. Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. Sept. 26, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIllegal Central American migrants rest and wash their clothes at the immigrant shelter of Caborca, a town in the state of Sonora in Mexico. Oct. 8, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAn illegal Central American migrant rests on the ground at an immigrant shelter in Caborca, a town in the state of Sonora, Mexico. His hat reads: "Anytown US." Caborca, Sonora, Mexico. Oct. 7, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAlong the border between Mexico and the U.S. a Salvadorian migrant is looking for a way to cross the border. Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Oct. 11, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAn illegal Central American migrant comes out of a manhole where he lives, along the road that flanks the border between Mexico and the U.S. He is waiting for the right moment to cross the border.Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Oct. 12, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAlong the border between Mexico and the U.S., José, a Mexican migrant from Guadalajara, is building a shelter just few paces from the border, waiting for the right time to cross. Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Oct. 13, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniAngel is a Mexican migrant from the state of Michoacàn. He is 60. He lived in U.S. in the city of San Diego since 1982, working as a farmer cultivating oranges and lemons until five years ago when he was deported. He has four children which were born in the U.S. and today are working in San Diego. They don't know he is living in such a misery in a shack a few meters from the U.S. border. Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Oct. 15, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniThe border between Mexico and the U.S. seen from the outskirts of Ciudad de Juarez where U.S. authorities are continuing construction of the border fence between the two countries. Oct. 3, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniIn the cemetery of Ciudad de Juarez a mass grave holds the bodies of 1,500 people found dead along the border with the U.S. Ciudad de Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Oct. 9, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniFernando is going to take a bath in the ocean. Fernando is a 25-years-old migrant who arrived in Tijuana from the Mexican city of San Luis Rio Colorado, a city with a very high crime rate. Tijuana, Mexico. Oct. 11, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniThe border fence between Mexico and the U.S. seen from the city of Tijuana, Mexico. Oct. 12, 2016.Alessandro GrassaniThe wall between Mexico and the U.S. seen from the Mexican city of Tijuana. Oct. 11, 2016.Alessandro Grassani
