2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
A resident of Otay, a neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico, says she sees a lot of journalists visiting her neighborhood to report on the new border wall being built. On March 13, 2018, President Trump visited a series of prototype walls, on the other side of the border from her home, as part his expansion of the wall along the southern border. Another resident of Otay, a self-described coyote, says that helping people to cross illegally has become more difficult since the building of the new border fence. Jan. 25, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Winter Bainbridge, 4, left, holds her cousin Avery Acosta, 1, as Amber Acosta, center, 4, relaxes in the outside washing machine. The mining town of Ely has a population of less than 5,000. Aug. 16, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
"Hell yes I know who Marty Robbins is,'' Benny Eldridge said while reflecting on the music of his youth in small town Trona. "I don't want to leave, but some people put some papers on my door saying my house isn't livable anymore." With his signature John Wayne charming looks of Eisenhower's America and a scar on his forehead from falling from the earthquake in his small town; Eldridge now realizes he must leave the city he has called home since 1955, and leave a place were everyone knew a man named Benny. The ghost town of Trona gives a tip of the hat and final goodbye to Benny as he leaves his home behind and moves to Bakersfield, California, with all of his possessions and his signature cowboy boots. Saturday. July 13, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Church of the Americas members including pastor Erasmo Solis, left, and pastor Samuel De La Rosa, right, baptize church member Gerardo Rojas, center, at Boulder Beach, which included the baptism of several church members. Boulder City. Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Da'Sean 'Tater Tot' Johnson, 2, jumps across a trailer while his father, right, warns him to watch himself and his brothers, left, watch the sun go down in the rural Nevada mountains. Pahrump, NV. Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Michael Hatchett, 22, faces the reality of leaving his home in Trona, California, after a massive earthquake damage his home and city or stay with his wife and one year old son until the house is livable again. Hatchett has spent the day fixing the damages to his home from the Earthquake, looking at holes in the wall as his son plays on the dirty wooden floor. I dont understand how people can just leave their home. As soon as a conflict happens. This is my home and Im not leaving, Hatchett said.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Story Description: Joshua hugs his sister, Scarlett, after spending the morning waiting to see if their number will be called to obtain asylum in the United States. They have come almost every week for the past three months, but their number has yet to be called. As President Trump seeks to fulfill his campaign promise to build a wall, thousands of immigrants like Joshua and Scarlett await their fate as they seek their own dream of starting a new life in the United States. First caption: Rango, 33, squeezes back into the Mexico side of the border in La Playa in Tijuana, Baja California. Rango, who was recently living in the United States illegally, was deported to Mexico after living most of his life in San Jose. He demonstrated to a group of friends how easy someone can squeeze through the border fence along the two beaches fence. After people recorded videos of him on the San Diego side, he struggled to get back onto the Mexico side of the border. The day before, a Tijuana resident who was also deported said, I may cross the border just one more time. When I was first deported they took my tablet, phone, wallet, clothes, Nikes, X-Box, everything I own. I just want to see the beach again on the other side. I just want to see my family living in the United States." Jan. 27, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Miguel Tomas Martinez Huerta now runs his own business at the Cocos La Iguana in Tijuana, Mexico. He was deported from the United States after living in California for 10 years and raising young children with a wife, who are all United States citizens. "I couldn't believe that I was deported. For the first five years I couldn't believe I had a wife and young daughters in California and I was sent to Mexico to live without them," Huerta said. Helped along the way, he says he found solace in working and letting go of drinking and starting his own fruit business stand. Jan. 24, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
On the first day of the new Migrant Protection Protocols instituted by Homeland Security, on Jan. 25, 2019, Nya, foreground, who is from El Salvador, says goodbye to Maria (background), who is also from El Salvador, as she gets into a van with her infant, headed to San Diego for processing for possible entry into the United States. However, Maria may soon have to return to Mexico due to a more stringent policy for obtaining asylum in the United States.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Migrant children from Central America and Mexico play as their parents know if their families number will be called to reach Asylum in the United States. Caravan members and locals from Mexico wait in line every day sometimes as early as 7 am to see if their number will be called. Many have to wake up hours earlier to catch a bus to make the announcements, and wait in long times; which happens every morning at the port of entry in El Chaparral. Jan. 23, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Many of the caravan members traveling from Central America, like this woman clutching her teddy bears, brought personal items with them on the journey. They now await word about their request for asylum at the Mapa Shelter in Tijuana. Two weeks after this shelter gathering the local police would permanently close the shelter and burn any remaining tents left on the shelter grounds. Jan. 24, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Locals on the Tijuana side of the border wrote anti- deportation comments on the wall prototypes that President Trump showcased in 2018. Jan. 25, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
A population of Haitians, including this child playing with his toy truck, have traveled to Tijuana hoping for their number to be called to obtain asylum in the United States. Many wait at the Casa Del Migrante shelter in Tijuana. A community called 'Little Haiti', was made for Haitian migrants whose asylum claim was rejected at the border, but found work in Tijuana. Jan. 22, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
We have been waiting for around three months, says Ana Madrid Gomez (center), who laughs with her daughter, Sasha Madrid (far left) as they pass the time at the port of entry in Tijuana. All members of her group, including Taina Leiva, and her daughter, Ruth Leiva (far right) are migrants originally from Honduras. Jan. 28, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Jose Neva, center, uses his phone to capture a man attempting to climb the border fence. I just got here a week ago, but Im trying to make it work. I want to go back to the other side the legal way, so Im filing paperwork, said Neva, who has two children living in Riverside, California. Jan. 27, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
The long line of people wait to cross back into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Jan. 20, 2019. This Tijuana/San Diego border has 63,000 pedestrians passing through every day. Added to these numbers, continue uncertainty surrounding the negotiations for funding the wall and controlling entry into the United States has added to the chaotic life along the border. Jan. 20, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Story Description: On July 24, 2019, the Cruz family are evicted from their home. The three bedroom house they called home the past three years became unaffordable for siblings Adrian Cruz, 12, Kimberly Cruz, 16, and Jose Cruz, 21. Their mother Adriana Cruz had been detained on a sunny summer day on July 11th, 2019, in Las Vegas while the siblings were at home. Adriana was headed to the bank when ICE pulled her over, the same bank she planned on depositing her check to pay the split payment of rent, which was due the same day. The Cruz children couldn't afford to pay the rent for their house without the help of their single parent mother, so the landlord evicted them within a week of Adriana's detainment. The day prior to moving, the siblings were forced to sleep in a hotel after the landlord locked the door to their house, and woke up early to say goodbye to their home and pack. While moving into their new apartment, the only hope they could look forward to after eviction was the glimmer of hope that their mother would come home. First caption: The siblings spend hours packing clothes and belongings into their U-Haul van, from 8 am until 2 o'clock, with the sibling receiving assistance from the Latino outreach nonprofit Mi Familia Vota, with moving heavier items into the van. Adrian, Kimberly, and Omar took a break to rest on their mothers bed still with unpacked clothes, and think what they should leave behind. "Mom has so many things. I don't think everything will be able to fit in these boxes," Adrian said while packing with his siblings their mother's belongs.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Kimberly Cruz, 16, now has to call a two bedroom apartment home. Weeks away from her first week of her junior year of high school, she is worried that if her older brother can not afford their new apartment she will have to move into her aunts house who lives in San Diego, leaving behind her friends and the city of Las Vegas, the city she grew up in. "I'm tired of this, she still hasn't called," Kimberly said as she walked into her new bathroom to wipe away her tears. Her boyfriend and friend helped her move into her new place, and the call she was waiting for all day never happened. Checking her phone several times for a possible missed call, she now becomes emotional with all of the sudden change in her life while the one aspect of her life that reminds her of a normal life, is her mother, who is detained in a detention center.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
imberly Cruz rest in her bed as her younger brother Adrian Cruz sleeps on the top bunk. Kimberly longs for the days when her mother is home and having family time together. "Its quite now, I'm unsure when she's coming home," Kimberly said. Kimberly and her mother did everything together, including going shopping, going to the nail salon, and Adriana picking up her children from school.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
The siblings older brother Omar Cruz works full time at a restaurant to afford for his siblings to live. Working full time has turn him into the man of his family household. Kimberly quit the job as a hostess at the restaurant during the time of dealing with their mothers detainment, which lead Omar to work even more shifts. Though he has a different father than his younger siblings, he has always been the one to step up in any situation when the family needed him financially. Omar received power of attorney over his younger siblings following his mothers detainment in order to keep the family together, and at 21 years old he signed his first lease for an apartment for both of his siblings to live in. He feared of homelessness if the Cruz family did not receive money from a GoFundMe created for them to move out of their house and afford the first months rent in their new apartment. "I have to take extra shifts to make sure I can afford our new apartment. I work 40 hours a week, and I don't want to have the fear of not having a place to live," Omar explained. Outside of the Immigration Court Room, Omar hugs his younger brother Adrian, as Kimberly makes phone calls to discuss the families option with posting bail; the family spent the GoFundMe money on moving expenses and first months rent of their new apartment "I was the one who had to step up. I found a lawyer and start the GoFundMe, because Omar needed to go to work," Kimberly explained.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Photos are remnants of childhood memories for the Cruz family. Omar Cruz's new apartment wall is covered with photos of friends and family. On the far left hand corner is a family portrait of Adriana with Kimberly and Omar before her son Adrian was born.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Adriana Cruz cries from a monitor via video chat moments after seeing her children for the first time in three weeks through a telecast. Handcuffed with an orange jumpsuit, she is treated just like anybody else in the jail system. Having to bring her shackled left hand up to wipe the tears with her right, her children wave to her through the monitor, the first time she has seen them in a month. The Cruz family were the only ones present with a pending case in the immigration court room the day of the hearing, with at least ten other immigrants detained also having hearings for their cases. The Cruz family waited two hours before their mother came to the stand, listening to every immigrants plea to not be deported. The immigration court judge granted Adriana a 5,000 bond, after the Cruz attorney mention her case being a humanitarian issue, with Adriana being the sole custodial parent of her three children. "The first night I was crying all night, and worried about my children. I didn't know what was going to happen. I just felt really sick being in one place with others who were not just immigrants, also criminals, and drug people." Adriana said. Cameras were not allowed in the facility, only iPhones were able to capture this moment.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
On August 6, 2019, Adriana Cruz is released from the Henderson Detention Center, she is bailed out by Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center, which has an immigration bond fund. The Henderson Detention Center did not give the Cruz family notice beforehand so Adriana walked across the street to a gas station, borrowed a strangers phone, and made a call to her daughter Kimberly, from there she became reunited with her son Omar with a surprise at his job and Adrian at the new apartment. The family decided during this time they needed to stay to themselves. By August 8th, 2019, Adriana consoles her daughter who becomes emotional discussing the days of uncertainty and the journey ahead. "Is that a police officer outside, who is out there," Kimberly said in a frenzy. Witnessing blue sirens has made her cautious because she is afraid they are there to check up on her mother, the way officers pulled over Adriana on July 11, steaming from an outstanding warrant for a traffic violation from 2011. Now back together after 25 days of their mothers absence, the Cruz family find comfort in laying down together on the couch and going to the movies.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
On August 13, 2019, Adriana is back to living a normal life with her children. She picks Adrian and Kimberly from school and discusses family plans for dinner. After picking up Adrian from school, she serendipitously drives by the street were officers pulled her over on July 11, she looks on the street off Sahara Avenue and says this was the place. "This is the street where I was detained. The officer stopped me and then I was put into custody," Adriana said. Her children take a break from texting on their phone to reflect on the day, and how in one month their entire lives almost changed.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Adriana Cruz prays during service at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Las Vegas. She made a promise to herself that she would go to church the Sunday after her release. Adriana Cruz future is still uncertain, while on bail with three children who are United States citizens, she now wants to take the steps to have her green card renewed, find work, and one day become a United States citizen. For now she assimilates back into society, and goes back to a normal life not knowing if she will have to leave her children and move back to a country she first left 24 years ago. "I want to take the steps to be here for my children, I don't want to leave, and I don't want to leave my children behind," Adriana said.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Story Description: Beyond the glimmer of neon lights and tourist gambling their life savings away are residence living in the city of Las Vegas and the incorporated Clark County. Las Vegas is seen from outsiders as a place to gamble, party, and then flee back home and leave the memories behind them. For many however, Las Vegas is a city that locals consider a place for financial security, for immigrants to start their life in the United States, and for families to raise their children. The fear of living in a city so vastly changing and finding belonging in a city many move to so they can escape home. First caption: Siblings Sophia Natividad, 9, right, Maverick Santos, 11, center, and Joseph Natividad, 6, left, wave to attract the attention of more guest before the celebration of the 121st Filipino Independence Day. The celebration included a parade, dancing, and musical performances. Las Vegas. Sunday, June 9, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Emmanuel Worthington, 58, from Oakland, walks back home with his Grandson, Jaiden Jackson, 5. Worthington is 4 foot 5, with his Grandson being an inch shorter than him, but Jackson always believes his Grandfather will protect him. "Now don't run off too far son, we have to be back home soon because your mother is waiting," Worthington said while walking home in the summer heat. North Las Vegas. Wednesday, June 5, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Wanda Johnson, 64, left, waits in line for disabled residents seeking to sleep on outside mattresses at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center. "I use to be a squatter. I had a place to stay and the LVMPD came to my doors saying this house isn't suitable for living and I had to leave. There isn't even a house there anymore. That's crazy," Johnson reflected on while waiting in line. The city of Las Vegas expects to spend 369 million on homeless services for the year. Wednesday, July 17, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Hermia Landy, right, Vivian Locke, center, and Padua Raman, left, wait before the parade celebrating the 121st Philippine Independence Day. Las Vegas. Sunday, June 9, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Wendy cries in the Regional Justice Center elevator after the verdict of her son Kody Harlan, who was found guilty along with Jaiden Caruso of first degree murder of the death of Matthew Minkler. The mother of Minkler was emotional during the verdict, but the mother's of the 18 and 19 year olds, who by a jury were now convicted murders, were visibly emotional as well. Wendy hugged Caruso's mother and cried in the courtroom, as the Minkler family left for interviews. No one interviewed the mothers of the teenage convicts, instead Wendy cried in a corner outside of the courtroom, and then told Caruso's mother, "they took our son's away." Giving Caruso's mother one last hug, she walks to the elevator by herself with only her sister present to console her, walking pass the family of Minkler as they gave interviews to the press, she left the Regional Justice Center with her eyes filled with tears, with her nursing scrubs on, knowing her son could possible spend the rest of his life in Prison. Las Vegas. Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Devon Brown, 9, from California, does a trick on his scooter during a summer day at Nellis Suites at Main Gate. Brown lives with his sisters and parents at the Extended Stay Hotel. The family moved from California for a more affordable living situation. Brown spends his summer days riding his scooter with his sisters during the beginning part of the summer. North Las Vegas. Monday, June 10, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Carey Shepherd lives in the underground shelters in Las Vegas that many in the homeless community call home. "Here I have my own bed, clothes, and living supplies. I have a place to call home that protects me during bad weather and that is my own," Shepherd said. The tunnels spread over 200 miles underneath the neon lights of the casinos and the Las Vegas Strip. Saturday, June 29, 2019.
Michael Blackshire
2019 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., waves to church attendees before walking into the second service of Victory Missionary Baptist Church with campaign staffers. Harris is looking to secure votes throughout the city of Las Vegas for the 2020 Presidential campaign with Deputy Political Director at Kamala Harris For The People Lauren Brooks, center, and Nevada Senior Advisor Megan Jones, left. Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
Michael Blackshire