Exploring the intergenerational impact of migration on the families of migrant mothers from Central America.
Every year, roughly 500,000 people leave El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the countries of the Northern Triangle. Migration from this region began in the 1960s and increased in the 1980s. Since 1980, the number of migrants from these countries went from 354,000 to almost four million in 2019, according to data from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) and the Migration Policy Institute.
For over 50 years, migration in the U.S. has been primarily viewed through the lens of policy reforms, focused on illegal border crossings mainly at the southern border, and become a political story rather than a human story. Migrant journeys do not begin at the border or end there—the story of a migrant encompasses at least Two Worlds—one that pushes and another that pulls them.
Discussions around migration often erase the humanity of immigrants by spreading stereotypes, excluding historical context and migrant voices, and focusing on a criminal justice angle. This has led me to collaborate with mothers who flee El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and share their stories.
“Dos Mundos” (“Two Worlds”) was begun in 2019 and tells the intimate stories of four mothers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras who have immigrated to the U.S., shedding light upon the intergenerational impact of migration on their families and communities in their home countries. Many migrant mothers inhabit two fragmented worlds: the home country they left, to which they cannot always return, and the host country in which they live, work and do not always belong.
This project is an invitation into the stories of these women; stories they convey through powerful voices, handwritten journals, and opening their homes and hearts. The laughter, tears, and internal reflection these women share with us offer insight into many aspects of their lives, from their dreams as children to the lives they have built in the U.S. Delving into their decisions to leave their home countries, they tell us what uprooting means to them.