Nogales Crossroad

Along the Mexican border, in a city where desperate migrants and Americans in search of cut-price dental care cross paths

LATIN AMERICA | MEXICO | SOCIAL ISSUES | ECONOMY

Nogales (Mexico), a view of the city with the 2011 metal fence separating the city.

Paul Theroux once described the fence in Nogales as “the oddest frontier I have ever seen.” A metal barrier cuts the city in two: on one side, Arizona—suburban, orderly, dotted with villas and shopping malls; on the other, Mexico—loud and exuberant, filled with mariachis, nightclubs, and low-cost dental clinics.

After years marked by shootings and street violence, the drug cartels have stopped fighting, and Nogales has once again become a prosperous crossroads where the global North and South collide. Americans come here to party and to save on dental care—costs are up to 70 percent lower than in the United States. Desperate migrants from Central America arrive hoping to cross the border illegally, while people from southern Mexico come seeking work, drawn by a fast-growing local economy.

“We have a university, hospitals, and hundreds of businesses. It’s like a happy island in the middle of the desert,” says the mayor. “We are the new Tijuana—but without the danger.”

Nogales (Mexico), 'Estrella' mariachi during a break at El Tule restaurant.

Nogales (Mexico), a view of the border between Mexico (on the left) and the United States.

Nogales (Mexico), Koali Pontual-Thorne in the studio of the dentist José Luis Espinoza. Koali lives in Alaska but flew to Mexico to save money.

Nogales (Arizona, USA), a border guard of Border Patrol has just caught two illegal immigrants in the countryside near the border.

Sahuarita (Arizona, USA), old overalls kept at the Air Force Facility Missile Site 8, a nuclear missile base active from 1963 to 1982. Nogales tourist attraction, in Mexico, is related to the presence of important US military bases near the border. Soldiers used to go to Nogales to have fun and for their dental care.

Nogales (Mexico), a dancer getting ready at the Bolero night club before opening.

Nogales (Mexico), the bride Mayra Alejandra Jimenez hugging a friend at the Divina Providencia parish.

Nogales (Mexico), workers unloading hay for cows in a farm next to the metal border, built in 2011, separating Mexico from the United States.

Nogales (Mexico), a man with a donkey walking in the street.

Nogales (Mexico), a dance course taught by Maribel Acosta at the Centro Imfoculta.

Nogales (Mexico), drug addicts, alcoholics and illegal immigrants with a dependency problem are hosted at the Centro de Integraciòn para Adictos y Alcohòlicos en Recuperacòn.

Nogales (Mexico), the city's oldest cemetery few kilometres from the metal fence built in 2011.

Nogales (Mexico), an old photo of the border between Mexico and the United States kept at Casa de la Cultura.

Nogales (Mexico), a US patient at the NIC (Nogales Implant Center) of the dentist Roberto Duran Peimbert.

Nogales (Mexico), few kilometers from the city the metal fence built in 2011 ends all of a sudden. Many illegal immigrants cross the border without being seen through this point.

Nogales (Mexico), Plaza Pesqueira, a street with several dental clinics.

Nogales (Mexico), a man waiting for the bus along the metal fence, built in 2011, separating Mexico from the United States.

Nogales (Mexico), a family in a games room in a shopping centre in the souther part of the city.

Nogales (Mexico), the countryside along the border between Mexico and the United States that many illegal immigrants cross to go to the USA.

Nogales (Mexico), a girl putting make up on a bus along the border between United States and Mexico.

Nogales (Mexico), a football match in the city's football ground.

Nogales (Mexico), one of the city's main streets.

Nogales (Mexico), two young people on a bus.

Nogales (Mexico), a girl waiting for the bride at Divina Providencia parish.

Nogales (Mexico), Angel Bautista and Alejandra Hernandez kissing through the metal fence built in 2011 separating Mexico from the United States. He cannot go to the USA and she cannot go back to Mexico.

Nogales (Mexico), women at the entrance of the Divina Providencia parish before a wedding.

Nogales (Mexico), a music lesson at Casa de la Cultura.

Nogales (Mexico), a man walking by night along the metal fence, built in 2011, separating Mexico from the United States.

Nogales (Mexico), guests of a wedding at the Divina Providencia parish.

Nogales (Mexico), a mother doing her daughter's hair, sitting outside their house very close to Nogales (Mexico), in the countryside along the border between Mexico and the United States that many illegal immigrants cross to go to the USA.

Sahuarita (Arizona, USA), old overalls kept at the Air Force Facility Missile Site 8, a nuclear missile base active from 1963 to 1982. Part of the tourist attraction of Nogales, in Mexico, is related to the presence of important US military bases near the border: soldiers used to go to Nogales to have fun and for their dental care.

Nogales (Mexico), a man crossing a dusty road seen through a bus window.

Nogales (Mexico), the border between Mexico and the United States, few kilometres from the city, that many illegal immigrants cross to go to the USA.

Nogales (Mexico), the bench of a football team during a match.

Nogales (Mexico), houses along the metal fence, built in 2011, separating Mexico from the United States.

Nogales (Mexico), Lurdes, a hairdresser's on calle Obregòn.

Nogales (Mexico), a man walking with his bike in the old neighborhood east of the railway.

Nogales (Arizona, USA), a family after a tourist tour beyond the border in the Mexican part of the city.

Nogales (Mexico), two women being photographed in a church after a baptism.

Nogales (Mexico), the 'Estrella' mariachi at El Tule restaurant.

Nogales (Mexico), two US couples having a rest at Salon Regis, a Nogales historical bar founded in 1928.

Nogales (Mexico), a couple of Mexican elderly walking in the street.

Nogales (Mexico), people training at Gymys fitness center.