Voices of the Border

Testimonios of Migration, Deportation, and Asylum
Tobin Hansen and María Engracia Robles Robles, ME, Editors
Foreword by Sean Carroll, SJ

Powerful personal accounts from migrants crossing the US-Mexico border provide an understanding of their experiences, as well as the consequences of public policy

Migrants, refugees, and deportees live through harrowing situations, yet their personal stories are often ignored. While politicians and commentators mischaracterize and demonize, herald border crises, and speculate about who people are and how they live, the actual memories of migrants are rarely shared. In the tradition of oral storytelling, Voices of the Border reproduces the stories migrants have told, offering a window onto both individual and shared experiences of crossing the US-Mexico border.

This collection emerged from interviews conducted by the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), a Jesuit organization that provides humanitarian assistance and advocates for migrants. Based in Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora—twin border cities connected by shared histories, geographies, economies, and cultures—the editors and their colleagues documented migrants’ testimonios to amplify their voices. These personal narratives of lived experiences, presented in the original Spanish with English translations, bring us closer to these individuals’ strength, love, and courage in the face of hardship and injustice. Short introductions written by migrant advocates, humanitarian workers, religious leaders, and scholars provide additional context at the beginning of each chapter.

These powerful stories help readers better understand migrants’ experiences, as well as the consequences of public policy for their community.

Royalties from the sale of the book go to the Kino Border Initiative. Purchase the book.

Tobin Hansen is an instructor of anthropology at the University of Oregon. His research examines migration and deportation, race, masculinities, care, borders, prisons, and gangs. He is a volunteer at the Kino Border Initiative.

María Engracia Robles Robles is a Missionary Sister of the Eucharist and education coordinator at the Kino Border Initiative. She is the author of Las últimas serán las primeras: El discipulado de las mujeres en los Evangelios.

Sean Carroll, SJ, was the first executive director of the Kino Border Initiative.