Americans

This project is very much in tune with contemporary issues between Mexico and US. All the people portrayed are Mexicans born legally in the US. They are not Mexicans but they all live in Mexico. Their parents, it be because everyone was doing it or because they wanted their children to have an opportunity to a safe and more prosperous environment, have invested between $4,000-$10,000 dollars to have their children in the US legally but have never lived in the US permanently, nor is it in their plans. I´m looking for the project to address issues of: border culture, the idea of still believing in an "American Dream", the possibility of prosperity, the idea around safety in the border and how the closeness to the US gives people hope. The project is also very personal, as I wanted to do this with my first-born child. I am born Dominican but now Mexican and my wife is American but born in Mexico. Though we both have dual citizenship and take advantage of it, we´ve always felt somewhat displaced. We are two part of two cultures. We are never one whole. So to see people creating a psychologically estranged and culturally split situation for their children was something I felt I wanted to document. I am interested in addressing border issues that shy away from the clichés of that space: violence, drug trafficking etc. I also feel it is timely because of the immigration situation of many Mexicans (legal, sort of illegal and the illegal) in the US. Here you have a border community that has access to the US, as they are all legal, passport-bearing citizens, and none of them want to live in the US. They all have different reasons; friends, family, cheaper expenses, easy going school relationships, but they all say they like it better in Mexico and that having "bought" this citizenship is always there as a plan B just incase things get worse or unbearable in Mexico.