Mexican photojournalist William Camargo is working on a book that reflects on what immigrants leave behind when they make the tough choice of leaving their countries, and the contributions they make to the United States.
As part of this project, 27 year-old Camargo, whose work has appeared on The Wall Street Journal, Time, Business Insider and The Guardian, plans to document the stories of 50 Mexicans' journeys to the United States.
“When immigrants leave their home countries, they sometimes lose touch with their family. This happened to my father, who left behind his mom and dad when he left Mexico for the United States,” said Camargo in an interview in Chicago when talking about his parents who moved to the United States from Guerrero, Mexico in 1980.
Camargo said that “people change when they move to a new country and sometimes they just don't want to call attention to themselves,” and went on to confess that he also tried to hide his roots when he was younger.
“I didn't want to talk in Spanish when I was 12 and 13, but that changed when I finally had the pleasure of living in Mexico for a period time as a way of me getting back in touch with my native tongue and culture,” he said.
Camargo explains that immigrants unfortunately become the “enemy” in a society during hard times.
“On several occasions throughout history, such as in the 30s and 50s, we were seen as enemies and during the Great Depression, many U.S. citizens of Mexican origin were kicked out of the country,” he explains.
Camargo hopes that his book will show the enormous sacrifices immigrants have to make when they leave their home countries and decide to become a part of their new country.
“I want to show the world through my book that we, thanks to our hard work and ideas, contribute to making the United States a better place,” he said.
