In Photos: Immigration to the United States

Philip Moore, a national guardsman, rests during a ‘down time’ shift overlooking the border fence with Mexico in Nogales, Arizona, in 2011. The Pentagon had extended the deployment of about 1,200 National Guard personnel who had been sent to the border the previous year. Guards at observation posts in Nogales work 24-hour shifts, each taking turns resting for four hours during the night

Immigrants are detained in ‘Tent City’ at the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2010. About 200 people were serving time in the facility, and most were eventually deported to Mexico. The controversial jail was run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was an outspoken critic of illegal immigration and a supporter of Arizona’s tough immigration laws

Detainees exercise at the Adelanto detention facility in California in 2013. The facility housed an average of 1,100 immigrants held in custody pending decisions in their favour or deportation. The average stay for a detainee was 29 days