Over the previous 12 months, Karla Reyes and her staff 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 in addition South Asia, the Center East, and Africa, every with a shared purpose: to cross into the US in the hunt for security.
In January, hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, hundreds of migrants abruptly acquired discover that their appointments with US Customs and Border Safety—the company that may 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 looking 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 bolstered the sense of urgency round her staff’s present undertaking: a crowdfunded recreation referred to as Take Us North about migrants making the journey throughout the border. “Although the sport is not launched but, we’re pondering critically about how we are able to nonetheless proceed to share data, 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 right—is the story of why they depart their houses for the US. “Most people typically will get this narrative that migrants are principally making an attempt to return 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 houses. Most of them are fleeing persecution and violence. They’re abandoning every 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 may very well 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 return because the administration makes an attempt to ramp up deportations. In response to a latest Washington Put up 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 circumstances apart from simply deportation, together with imprisonment on the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Middle in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An asylum seeker’s journey isn’t simple, however in 2025 it’s an more and more horrifying prospect.
Take Us North—a narrative-driven, adventure-survival recreation about migrants touring via the Sonoran desert—is trying to each foster empathy and lift consciousness about “points which are sadly typically decreased in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric,” Reyes says. Many migrants don’t need to depart their houses, 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.