Over the previous yr, Karla Reyes and her group at Anima Interactive have visited the US-Mexico border twice to interview migrants and humanitarians. As soon as a month, Reyes interviews migrants remotely by way of video calls. She’s spoken to dozens. They arrive from Latin America, but additionally South Asia, the Center East, and Africa, every with a shared purpose: to cross into the US looking for security.
In January, hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, 1000’s of migrants abruptly acquired discover that their appointments with US Customs and Border Safety—the company that will assist them acquire asylum—had been canceled. The administration shut down the CBP One app that permits migrants to use for asylum. It was the primary of many roadblocks the brand new administration would erect in entrance of these in search of to immigrate to America.
“At a second’s discover, the course of their lives has been altered once more,” Reyes says. “These are individuals who have been ready so long as years.”
For Reyes, it solely strengthened the sense of urgency round her group’s present challenge: a crowdfunded sport referred to as Take Us North about migrants making the journey throughout the border. “Despite the fact that the sport is not launched but, we’re considering critically about how we will nonetheless proceed to share info, sort out disinformation, and share assets with our neighborhood,” she says.
One of many largest misconceptions about migrants, Reyes says—one she hopes the sport will assist appropriate—is the story of why they depart their properties for the US. “Most of the people usually will get this narrative that migrants are largely attempting to come back to the US purely for financial alternative,” she says. “The truth is that almost all of the migrants that I’ve interviewed don’t need to depart their properties. Most of them are fleeing persecution and violence. They’re forsaking every thing that they love, however they do not have one other alternative.”
Anima plans to launch Take Us North in late 2026 or early 2027, at which level the circumstances migrants face might be much more stark than those they’re confronted with now.
In late February, the Division of Homeland Safety claimed that “in a single month below President Trump greater than 20,000 unlawful aliens had been arrested.” Extra arrests are positive to come back because the administration makes an attempt to ramp up deportations. Based on a current Washington Publish report, greater than 1 million migrants admitted to the US throughout President Joe Biden’s tenure may face an expedited removing. Migrants who’ve been arrested within the US face more and more harmful situations except for simply deportation, together with imprisonment on the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Middle in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An asylum seeker’s journey is rarely simple, however in 2025 it’s an more and more horrifying prospect.
Take Us North—a narrative-driven, adventure-survival sport about migrants touring via the Sonoran desert—is making an attempt to each foster empathy and lift consciousness about “points which can be sadly usually diminished in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric,” Reyes says. Many migrants don’t need to depart their properties, however are pressured to, whether or not it’s due to violence, persecution, or excessive poverty. Others, Reyes says, have been kidnapped and are unable to return house. “These are harmless and sincere individuals who have simply been in unlucky circumstances,” she says.
