Visit and Document each ICE holding facility
Donation protected
My name is Gillis Jones.
I'm a Photojournalist and Computer Security practitioner. I enjoy looking at complex, nuanced issues uncovering the stakeholders, documenting the history and showing the creative ways we can face these issues. You can find examples of my work portfolio at http://gill.is
The United States is currently in the midst of a historic immigration crisis. With record numbers of migrants being detained for ever longer periods of time, the detention of legal asylum seekers is becoming an enormous profit driver for private corporations.
One of the reasons that the growth of these 'industries' go unchallenged is that many of the institutions where migrants are detained are in the middle of veritable no-mans lands, such as Ajo station in WHY, AZ- a town of 116 people.
In 2011, CBP spent nearly seventeen million dollars to build twenty-one houses for agents who were stationed in Why. Where the average home price is roughly $85,000. How has this affected the community?
My plan, and what I need your assistance with, is to travel to many of these communities that host detention facilities and utilize my skills build a greater context around this issue. This project will create a corpus of work regarding the places, the people, communities and landscapes surrounding these facilities. I’ll do a mixed portfolio of both street photography, landscapes and micro interviews.
Initially- this project will be focusing on the facilities west of Amarillo, Texas and south of Nebraska, but if time and budget allows, we’ll take if further, together. I'm willing to take this story further to all parts of the United States. I just need your assistance to make this happen.
Rough Budget:
Rental for a vehicle that's able to negotiate the backroads that US Border Patrol substations are located in comes out to around $1700 dollars for a month. Throw in another $1800 for fuel. My existing vehicle, while cute, isn’t up to this task. Housing should run me about $1800 with the rest going toward meals.
Below you'll find a map of the locations I will target to document. The main focus will be developing a body of evidence of the varied locations, populations, and stories of the area where these facilities are located.
The border crisis, is a massively complex issue, and one of the best ways to understand it is to document it, through direct contact with people, places and communities involved.
I'm a Photojournalist and Computer Security practitioner. I enjoy looking at complex, nuanced issues uncovering the stakeholders, documenting the history and showing the creative ways we can face these issues. You can find examples of my work portfolio at http://gill.is
The United States is currently in the midst of a historic immigration crisis. With record numbers of migrants being detained for ever longer periods of time, the detention of legal asylum seekers is becoming an enormous profit driver for private corporations.
One of the reasons that the growth of these 'industries' go unchallenged is that many of the institutions where migrants are detained are in the middle of veritable no-mans lands, such as Ajo station in WHY, AZ- a town of 116 people.
In 2011, CBP spent nearly seventeen million dollars to build twenty-one houses for agents who were stationed in Why. Where the average home price is roughly $85,000. How has this affected the community?
My plan, and what I need your assistance with, is to travel to many of these communities that host detention facilities and utilize my skills build a greater context around this issue. This project will create a corpus of work regarding the places, the people, communities and landscapes surrounding these facilities. I’ll do a mixed portfolio of both street photography, landscapes and micro interviews.
Initially- this project will be focusing on the facilities west of Amarillo, Texas and south of Nebraska, but if time and budget allows, we’ll take if further, together. I'm willing to take this story further to all parts of the United States. I just need your assistance to make this happen.
Rough Budget:
Rental for a vehicle that's able to negotiate the backroads that US Border Patrol substations are located in comes out to around $1700 dollars for a month. Throw in another $1800 for fuel. My existing vehicle, while cute, isn’t up to this task. Housing should run me about $1800 with the rest going toward meals.
Below you'll find a map of the locations I will target to document. The main focus will be developing a body of evidence of the varied locations, populations, and stories of the area where these facilities are located.
The border crisis, is a massively complex issue, and one of the best ways to understand it is to document it, through direct contact with people, places and communities involved.
Organizer
Gillis Jones
Organizer
Milpitas, CA