Anastasia Photo Emerging Photographer Sarah Blesener traveled to Kingsville, Texas and Nogales, Arizona this year to document the Border Patrol Explorers. The program launched in 1973 to train youth in border patrol and American citizenship. Sponsored by the United States Border Patrol, the program also serves as a recruitment tool for the agency, for those students who wish to enter law enforcement. It is one of the most stable career pursuits in the region.
Many of the students Blesener photographed are themselves immigrants from Mexico, or are first generation Americans. The program prompts questions of identity and allegiance amidst a national conversation on immigration reform and citizenship.
See the full feature in California Sunday Magazine.
