Legality is not morality, this we know. But the relationship between the two is always worth scrutinizing, bound up as it is in foundational questions of truth and conscience, human nature and social change, justice and order.

As the flows of human migration continue rising around the globe and sovereign nations debate their immigration policies, human stories play out both in immediate crisis and generational ripple effects. I am a photographer whose work explores different themes of social change and the immigrant experience. Here, I’ve focused the camera lens on my family.

I am a Honduran American whose dad has been deported three times. In the midst of fear’s constant ebb and flow, a life has been built: baptism, marriage, children, home ownership. I love my dad. He’s a man of integrity, a pillar of our community, and one who ultimately trusts God and has sacrificed much to provide. Here is my lens as a daughter, my experience of a noble life meeting politics’ power.

*Julia’s name has been changed to protect her and her family’s identity.