Figure 1. Inspector Garland A. Inmon hands an I-100 identification card to a bracero at the Rio Vista Reception Center, El Paso, Texas (1955). Braceros faced a series of inspections: interviews, contraband searches, and physical examinations. Photo ID 01.027a, Photography Collection, USCIS History... More about this image found in Inspector Garland A. Inmon hands an I-100 identification card to a bracero ...

Figure 2. An autonomous lens. U.S. Army night-vision scope stationed at Chula Vista, California (1980). Photo ID 06.154a, Photography Collection, USCIS History Office and Library. Published in “Improving Enforcement Capabilities,” INS Reporter (Fall-Winter 1984–85): 12. Courtesy of the USCIS H... More about this image found in An autonomous lens. U.S. Army night-vision scope stationed at Chula Vista, ...

Figure 3. Attorney General William French Smith tests an infrared night-vision scope, San Ysidro, California (1983). Photo ID 06.155a, Photography Collection, USCIS History Office and Library. Printed on the cover of INS Reporter ’s Fall-Winter 1983–84 edition. Courtesy of the USCIS History Off... More about this image found in Attorney General William French Smith tests an infrared night-vision scope,...

Figure 4. “Darkness,” journalist Mark Kramer insisted, “is no cover on the California border.” San Ysidro, California (1985). Photograph by Danny Lehman. A full-page version of this image was included in “Life on the Line: U.S.–Mexican Border,” National Geographic , June 1985, 728–29. Courtesy ... More about this image found in “Darkness,” journalist Mark Kramer insisted, “is no cover on the California...

Figure 5. Undocumented migrants behind bars in Calexico, California (1951). Photograph by Loomis Dean. Image 141680, LIFE Photo Collection. Featured in “Wetbacks Swarm In,” LIFE 30, no. 21, May 21, 1951, 36–37. Courtesy of Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock More about this image found in Undocumented migrants behind bars in Calexico, California (1951). Photograp...

Figure 6. “Border Patrol—A Rugged Beat” opened with this panoramic shot, taken from the top of a watchtower in Nogales, Arizona (1958). Photograph by Bud DeWald. Published in Burke Johnson, “Border Patrol—A Rugged Beat,” Arizona Days and Ways, August 17, 1958, 7. Courtesy of © Bud DeWald – USA... More about this image found in “Border Patrol—A Rugged Beat” opened with this panoramic shot, taken from t...