For the past two years, I have repeatedly traveled to the US and Mexico to document the arrival and expulsion of asylum seekers from Latin America, Haiti, and African and Asian countries at the border with Mexico. They couldn't present their claims before a judge because of Title 42, a measure put in place by the Trump administration during the pandemic. The Biden administration lifted Title 42 on May 11, 2023. I followed asylum seekers on their journey in Mexico, through the Chihuahua desert, atop the infamous cargo train known as La Bestia, The Beast, and to their arrival in the US.
Nicoló Filippo Rosso (b. 1985) is an Italian documentary photographer based in Colombia. He graduated with a degree in Literature at the Universitá Degli Studi Di Torino, in Italy. Since 2016, Nicoló has been documenting the impact of the exploitation of coal on the land and the people of Colombia’s La Guajira peninsula. This work has been exhibited worldwide, and it has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers’ publications. Currently, he is mostly dedicated to documenting the migration of Venezuelans who cross the border with Colombia heading to other Latin-American countries.
- Short Story Award, Festival della Fotografia Etica, finalist 2020 - Getty Images Reportage Grant, winner, 2020 - Honorable mention for ZEKE Award for Documentary Photography, 2020 - Finalist at Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival in Tbilisi (Georgia), 2020 - World Press Photo, 3º prize in Contemporary Issues Stories, 2020 - Personal exhibition at Maison du développement durable, in Montreal (Canada), 2019 - Finalist at Prix Lucas Dolega (France), 2019 - Personal exhibition at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Washington D.C. (US), 2019 - Finalist at Alexia Grant (US), 2019 - Exhibition at ZOOM Photo Festival, Saguenay (Canada), 2019 - Photographer nominated at 6x6 World Press Global Talent Program, 2019 - Selected photographer at Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, New York (US), 2019 - Winner at Humane Nature, Zoom Photo Festival, Saguenay (Canada), 2019 - Exhibition at Indian Photography Festival, Hydera- bad (India), 2019 - Honorable mention at Moscow Internation Photo Award (Russia), 2019 - Winner Professional Photography Award at Harvard Review of Latin America (US), 2018 - Photographer nominated at World Press Masterclass, 2018 - Personal exhibition at Melaka Art Gallery in Bogotá (Colombia), 2018 - Eddie Adams Workshop, 2017 - Personal exhibition at Uniminuto University (Colombia), 2017 - Personal exhibition at the University of Antioquia (Co- Colombia), 2017 - Personal exhibition at Valenzuela-Klenner Gallery in Bogotá (Colombia), 2017 - Finalist at Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival in Tbilisi (Georgia), 2016 - IPA Awards, Honorable Mention, 2016 - Personal exhibition at Valenzuela-Klenner Gallery in Bogotá (Colombia), 2015 - Finalist at National Geographic Contest “La Fotografia in Viaggio” (Italy), 2013
Decades of civil war, endemic poverty, violence, and natural disasters have produced forced displacement across most of the societies across Latin America, making it hard for people needing international protection to find better conditions in any other country and polarizing their movement to the United States. For the past two years, I have repeatedly traveled to the United States and Mexico to document the arrival and expulsion of asylum seekers from Latin America, Haiti, and African and Asian countries at the border of Arizona and Texas. They couldn't present their claims before a judge because of Title 42, a measure put in place by the Trump administration under a 30-year-old public health regulation. The statute, designed to stop the spread of a contagious disease, allowed the summary expulsion of asylum-seekers coming from a country hit by a virus such as Covid-19. Still, people never stopped moving. Since the pandemic began, almost 2.5 million have been expelled to Mexico after their attempt to enter the United States. The Biden administration lifted Title 42 on May 11, 2023. In the months preceding this decision, asylum-seeking families from South and Central America moved massively to the north. I followed some of them on their journey in Mexico, through the Chihuahua desert, atop the infamous cargo train known as La Bestia, The Beast, and to their arrival in the United States.