Refugee Rights Mexico Project #58557

Portraits for US/Mexico Border Migrant Families

by Retake Inc.

Project Report | Mar 30, 2026
March 2026 Updates for Retake

By Danielle Desnoyers | Founder + Director

Happy Spring to all our wonderful supporters. This is a brief update about the work we are doing at the border between the US and Mexico. As a reminder, we are a nonprofit that offers free family photos and new portraits to people who are starting over and rebuilding their lives after enduring horrible circumstances. One of our biggest projects is to focus on migrant families coming to the border and seeking asylum. They leave everything they know behind and have so little with them. We have been to the border numerous times and worked at shelters in both countries in cities in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. We partner with nonprofits, churches, and organizations who are helping families navigate this chapter in their lives. We've also met with border patrol and the UN to learn about the complexity associated with the border. At the end of the day, we see human beings who are going through something no one should have to. And if we can offer them new photos and a bit of joy, we are happy to do so.

We are actively raising funds so we can go back to the border as soon as possible. There are still families at shelters waiting to cross into America as they wait out the current administration's policies.

Thank you for your support and for being a part of our team.

-The team at Retake

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Dec 1, 2025
End of Year Report for 2025

By Danielle Desnoyers | Founder + Director

Aug 5, 2025
Our August 2025 Border Report

By Danielle Desnoyers | Founder + Director

Hello friends and supporters. This is our report for August 2025.

Our director went to the border for the third time in May. She was there for roughly 3 weeks meeting with migrant families and learning about the situations along the border. She spent most of her time between El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico. But she did also go to New Mexico and a small border town between Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Mexico.

The border shelters in the US seem to have shuttered. The shelters still open on the Mexico side are not as full as in previous years.

After talking to numerous families and community members, the main updates are that a lot of people are too scared to make the trek to the border now. They know there aren't any available appointments to legally seek asylum.

Of those families who made the trek when the Trump Administration took back over, they spent their entire savings and risked a lot to come. When they arrived and tried to legally seek asylum at ports of entry, they found out that it isn't an option any longer. Many stayed for months in hopes that things would change. As people started to realize America was not an option, they had to find ways to make money again to start their journeys back to their home countries where violence and poverty still exists.

It's a sad situation all the way around. She mostly saw women and children at the shelters. Husbands were trying to find work somewhere. It felt helpless.

She heard stories about families escaping cartels only to be kidnapped along the way to the US/Mexico border. Now they are traumatized and at the border and unsure of what to do. So they are in a limbo.

We hope to go back again soon. Meeting the families, hearing their stories, and taking their photographs was an important project to us.

Thank you for your continued support.

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