Videos

Bridging the Border: A Family Divided

In 2017, a Vancouver family’s life was upended. Ramon Flores-Garcia, an undocumented immigrant who had lived in the United States for 20 years and in Clark County, Washington, for nearly a decade, was on a business trip to Everett. There, he stayed at a Motel 6, whose employees gave his information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was deported to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, leaving behind his wife, seven children and community ties. Flores now lives in Tijuana, Mexico. His wife and children have left the Vancouver area and live in Chula Vista, Calif., to be closer to him. We parallel their lives on opposite sides of the border, exploring how they’ve managed a family split in two. (Amanda Cowan and Jessica Prokop of The Columbian. Produced with assistance from the Pulitzer Center.)