In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • A Few Missing Visuals of the Crisis
  • Diego Javier Luis (bio)

Every day, the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border deepens, and the human toll continues to rise. In late March of 2019, I traveled with two other PhD candidates from Brown University to South Texas to meet with members of RAICES, the Dilley Pro-Bono Project, and the Holding Institute in Laredo. I documented the journey through photography with the goal of depicting spaces that remain abstract in the public imaginary and discourse of the crisis. What does a US refugee camp look like? How much light pollution does a detention center give off? These are the kinds of questions I sought to answer through a variety of photography techniques as we traveled through South Texas.


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Figure 1.

Laundry. The Holding Institute of Laredo, TX (named after the Methodist missionary Nannie Holding), houses 50+ men, women, and children every night. Most are homeless immigrant families with no possessions who have just been released from detention centers. The Institute provides each family with donated clothes to replace the standard-issue, ill-fitting clothing of the detention centers.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 2.

Music. Inside the Holding Institute, Julian Saporiti of No-No Boy plays songs for the children, mostly from Honduras, who receive music with mixed reactions.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 3.

The Pastor. Pastor Mike of the Holding Institute gives a sermon every night and tells each child that he or she is a blessing and never a burden on anyone.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 4.

Children, at Play. After dinner, the Holding Institute grounds try to restore some semblance of normalcy. The adults watch the children as they play soccer, tag, hide and seek, and basketball.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 5.

Dusk. Everyone must decide how he or she will pass the time in the Holding Institute. There are some diversions for children; one young man cuts hair; there are even English classes—but nothing can truly take away from the anxiety of waiting for a family member to show up or for an asylum hearing.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 6.

END Family Detention. Julian Saporiti of No-No Boy sings about Japanese incarceration at Crystal City for members of the Dilley Pro-Bono Project, inviting them to consider historical antecedents to the current crisis and how to build broad solidarity.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 7.

Light Pollution. A long exposure shot on top of the ranch where members of the Dilley Pro-Bono Project live and organize meetings reveals the intensity of the light pollution from the Dilley detention center. The stars are invisible. The detention center dominates the town's local economy as much as it does its lighting.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 8.

Dilley Detention I. By enhancing the light saturation, I emphasize here how unnatural and out-of-place the detention center looks at night. Cars and vans hum in and out all night. The Dilley detention center is the largest family detention center in the country.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 9.

Dilley Detention II. This black-and-white shot focuses on the right side of the camp to show just how much electricity the camp requires to keep the whole area lit at night, ostensibly for the purpose of spotting anyone attempting to enter or exit without permission.

Courtesy: Diego Javier Luis.

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Figure 10.

Dilley Detention III. In the early morning light, the rows of detention center buildings resemble rows of barracks from other instances of confinement from other times. Taking this photo, I thought of nearby...

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