The day before President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump both visited the U.S.-Mexico border, I traveled to where Mr. Trump was scheduled to speak.
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President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump will both visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday. I traveled to the place where Mr Trump will speak the day before.
This group of migrants who swam across the border at night became stranded on a rock in the Rio Grande for hours. They faced barbed wire on the American side and treacherous waters as the winds picked up behind them.
A steady stream of migrants have crossed the border into this area in recent months, following a surge late last year. Law enforcement officials described chaotic scenes and said they believed immigration policies were not being enforced.
The Rio Grande can be unpredictable. These Texas Department of Public Safety officers patrol the waters looking for people in need of assistance, and sometimes provide emergency medical care right on the boat.
But drownings have become a regular occurrence. Officers found this man who died in the river shortly after I arrived. The somber scene was routine for medical examiners who arrived two hours later.
I was struck by the clothes hanging on the barbed wire along the riverbank. Some were strategically abandoned and others were torn away, but all represented the journeys of migrants and the risks they faced.
Doug Mills has been a photographer at The Times’ Washington bureau since 2002. He previously worked at The Associated Press, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes. His Instagram is @nytmills. More about Doug Mills