Thousands of immigrants—driven from their homes by decades of economic disasters, horrific violence, climate change and political instability—have traveled north along the Devil's Highway into the United States. Many die from thirst.

It's not just people dying; the Sonoran Desert itself is dying. Endangered migratory and endemic animals are expiring in dramatic numbers. Even plants and the top soil are being damaged and destroyed. SUVs, lorries and tractors barrel through the delicate ecosystem to police the boder and errect ever more elaborate barriers. Water from an already strained desert aquifer is being pumped out to support an ever-expanding border surveillance and deterrence program.

Quitobaquito is the last permanent water source in the Sonoran. Despite more than 10,000 years of archelogical history, it may not exist for much longer.


While my documentation of Quitobaquito has been an ongoing effort, a portion of these photos were commissioned by The Intercept, The New York Times and The National Geographic.

Many of them accompanied Mining the Future: Climate Change, Migrations, and Militarization in Arizona and The Border Patrol Invited the Press to Watch it Blow Up a National Monument by Ryan Devereaux and Sacred Arizona spring drying up as border wall construction continues by Douglas Main.

Phoenix based; available for work in Latin America and the US Southwest.
+14808334800
ashponders@gmail.com
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