US Border Patrol — Louisville Kentucky Photojournalist | WILLIAM WIDMER

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agent Michael Johnson stands on an old dock and surveys a section of the Rio Grande River, which serves as the natural boundary between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Michael Johnson approaches a mother and son from Honduras who crossed the Rio Grande River in a raft with the help of a 'coyote'. She and her son then began walking down a gravel road on private ranchland until they were spotted by the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared Radar) camera tower stationed nearby. It is common for families with young children to cross the border fully expecting to be apprehended and processed by CBP agents before appealing for amnesty or asylum in the United States.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - Diamentina Carcamo-Mejia (22, Center) speaks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Michael Johnson as her son Osmin (5) looks on. Carcamo-Mejia, a Honduran national, was apprehended by patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande River in a raft with the help of a 'coyote'. She and her son then began walking down a gravel road on private ranchland until they were spotted by the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared Radar) camera tower stationed nearby. It is common for families with young children to cross the border fully expecting to be apprehended and processed by CBP agents before appealing for amnesty or asylum in the United States.

McAllen, TX - May 17, 2017 - A trio of footprints mark the path that migrants used to cross farmland near the banks of the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural border between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) division looks for evidence like footprints and paths through agricultural fields to detect traffic along the border.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - A motion-triggered surveillance camera is disguised in old clothing in the brush near the banks of the Rio Grande River, which separates the United States from Mexico in Southeast Texas.

McAllen, TX - May 17, 2017 - A security wall used to deter illegal traffic stands atop a flood levee near the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural border between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agent Michael Christian Salmon leads Advid Alberto Amador Velasquez, a 24 year-old Honduran national who crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico in an inflatable plastic raft, toward a patrol vehicle parked near the banks of the river.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - Michael S Latas, the Deputy Patrol Agent in charge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande City Station, points to a map of the area that his division patrols in Southeast Texas along the border with Mexico.

Hidalgo, TX - May 18, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection marine patrol agents detain a migrant (seated in the upper boat) who attempted to illegally enter into the United States from the Rio Grande River.

McAllen, TX - May 18, 2017 - A group of men scatter as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter arrives to track their movements through private ranchland near the US/Mexico border.

Hidalgo, TX - May 17, 2017 - Vehicle traffic at the Hidalgo Texas Border Inspection Station.

Pharr, TX - May 16, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers question a private vehicle at the Pharr Port of Entry. The Pharr Texas Port of Entry is located at the Pharr–Reynosa International Bridge. The tolling operation on the US side of the bridge is operated by the city of Pharr, TX. The bridge opened in 1994, and since 1996, northbound trucks from Reynosa have not been to permitted to cross at the Hidalgo Texas Port of Entry. This has made Pharr a major commercial port of entry.

McAllen, TX - May 17, 2017 - Flags inside the entry to an airport hangar used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection aerial patrols at the McAllen airport.

Hidalgo, TX - May 16, 2017 - Personal posessions confiscated from persons in the custody of Homeland Security are stored in plastic bags inside the offices of the Hidalgo Texas Border Inspection Station.

Hidalgo, TX - May 16, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Leo Ibarra works with his drug-sniffing dog Max at the U.S. entry side of the Hidalgo Texas Border Inspection Station.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agent Michael Johnson stands on a bluff overlooking the Mexican town of Miguel Alemán, across the border of the Rio Grande River.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agents Mario Cervantez (second from Left) and Michael Johnson (Right) stand over Advid Alberto Amador Velasquez, a 24 year-old Honduran national who crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico in an inflatable plastic raft. He was apprehended after an extensive footchase through the thick brush of the riverbank in 100º heat.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - Traffic signage at the Roma-Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge, a port of entry between the two countries.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agent Michael Johnson tracks footprints on private land near the banks of the Rio Grande River, which separates the United States from Mexico in Southeast Texas.

McAllen, TX - May 17, 2017 - A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrol vehicle patrols a dirt road near the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural boundary between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehend a man that was seen crossing the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural border of the United States and Mexico across Southeast Texas.

McAllen, TX - May 18, 2017 - A Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) is docked near the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural boundary between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) division uses aerostats to provide long-range detection of traffic along the border.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Michael Johnson squats down on a well-established path through tall grass runs parallel to the banks of Rio Grande River. Once migrants successfully cross the river, which serves as the natural boundary between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas, they often hide in the tall brush until U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrols move on from the area before making their way up from the riverbank.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - Rusted barbed wire on the old Roma-Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge. A new traffic bridge was erected parallel to the original structure and now serves as a port of entry between the two countries.

Pharr, TX - May 16, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Angel Cruz uses a flashlight to inspect the inside of an empty semi-trailer at the Pharr Texas Border Inspection Station. The Pharr Texas Port of Entry is located at the Pharr–Reynosa International Bridge. The tolling operation on the US side of the bridge is operated by the city of Pharr, TX. The bridge opened in 1994, and since 1996, northbound trucks from Reynosa have not been to permitted to cross at the Hidalgo Texas Port of Entry. This has made Pharr a major commercial port of entry.

Roma, TX - May 15, 2017 - Dogs bark at US Customs and Border Protection agents as they pass by a residential lot near the banks of the Rio Grande River, which forms the natural border between the United States and Mexico across Southeast Texas. The agents received a call regarding a possible river crossing attempt and quietly made their way nearer to the riverbank to listen for activity. The crossing attempt never happened and after nearly an hour of waiting in the thick underbrush in nearly total darkness, the response was called off.

McAllen, TX - May 18, 2017 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Tony Gonzalez oeprates a FLIR (Foreward Looking Infrared Radar) surveillance camera from inside the cockpit of an AStar helicopter used by the CBP's Air and Marine Operations (AMO) division in their aerial patrols of the Rio Grande Valley.

McAllen, TX - May 18, 2017 - A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrol agent escorts a man who was apprehended while attempting to illegally enter the United States near the banks of the Rio Grande River, which serves as a natural boundary between the United States and Mexico in Southeast Texas.