Over the previous 12 months, Karla Reyes and her workforce at Anima Interactive have visited the US-Mexico border twice to interview migrants and humanitarians. As soon as a month, Reyes interviews migrants remotely through video calls. She’s spoken to dozens. They arrive from Latin America, but in addition South Asia, the Center East, and Africa, every with a shared aim: to cross into the US looking for security.
In January, hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, 1000’s of migrants out of the blue 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 enables migrants to use for asylum. It was the primary of many roadblocks the brand new administration would erect in entrance of these searching for 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 workforce’s present mission: a crowdfunded recreation known as Take Us North about migrants making the journey throughout the border. “Despite the fact that the sport is not launched but, we’re pondering critically about how we are able to nonetheless proceed to share info, deal with disinformation, and share sources with our group,” she says.
One of many greatest misconceptions about migrants, Reyes says—one she hopes the sport will assist appropriate—is the story of why they go away their properties for the US. “Most people typically will get this narrative that migrants are largely making an attempt to come back to the US purely for financial alternative,” she says. “The fact is that almost all of the migrants that I’ve interviewed don’t need to go away their properties. Most of them are fleeing persecution and violence. They’re forsaking every little thing that they love, however they do not have one other selection.”
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 beneath President Trump greater than 20,000 unlawful aliens have 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 elimination. Migrants who’ve been arrested within the US face more and more harmful circumstances other than simply deportation, together with imprisonment on the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Heart in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An asylum seeker’s journey is rarely simple, however in 2025 it’s an more and more scary prospect.
Take Us North—a narrative-driven, adventure-survival recreation about migrants touring by way of the Sonoran desert—is trying to each foster empathy and lift consciousness about “points which can be sadly typically diminished in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric,” Reyes says. Many migrants don’t need to go away 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 residence. “These are harmless and trustworthy individuals who have simply been in unlucky circumstances,” she says.
