Immigration debate: the 2006 US-Mexican border wall

Pictured: Mexican resentment runs high in the border towns. Children walk along the memorial wall, known locally as “the scar”, on their way home from school. Tijuana. 2006, Larry Towell/Magnum Photos. 

For the month of May, Magnum Foundation will be showcasing work from the Magnum Photos archive to highlight issues in the immigration debate as part of our La Ruta project. 

When Larry Towell was in Tijuana in 2006, he was documenting construction of the new U.S. border wall designed to keep out migrants. It was believed then that over 3,000 migrants had died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, only six years later, ACLU estimates that over 5,000 have perished.

Larry remembers that while he was shooting that day, a child came by carrying a colorful umbrella. She used it to keep her balance on the curb as she walked between on-coming traffic and the memorial wall.

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