Ariana Sawyer is a freelance journalist and graduate student of international policy and development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif., where she specializes in migration, trafficking and human security. Her partner, Paulina Pepper, is a graphic designer, photographer, writer and Mexican national. This project was part of a directed study program at MIIS under Dr. William Arrocha, whose research focuses on migration, development and human rights.