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Hounded out of the US to Mexico:

Abel the 'self deportee'

The Guardian    24 March 2026

Hounded out of the US to Mexico:

Abel the 'self deportee'

video    documentart    The Guardian    24 March 2026

Abel Ortiz was brought from Mexico to LA when he was just two months old

and has been living undocumented ever since.

Now 38, he has a full life cutting hair, building a community,

loving a city that has never fully loved him back.

In a time of escalating ICE raids and the ache of uncertainty,

Abel has made a radical decision:

he’s leaving – not because he has to,

but to escape perpetual limbo and be free to see the world

The ‘self-deportee’ hounded out of the US to Mexico:

‘There are days when I feel literally insane’

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8INs141xeQ

Mexico    France / Mexico / Spain / UK / USA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/
mexico

https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/
the-cartel-project

https://aristeguinoticias.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Guillermo_del_Toro

2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/
arts/josefina-aguilar-dead.html

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/mar/27/
modulo2-rehabilitation-mexico-most-dangerous-prisons-women

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/mar/24/
self-deportation-los-angeles-mexico-trump-immigration

2025

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/
g-s1-96298/mexican-mayor-killed-during-day-of-the-dead

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/
world/americas/mexico-sinaloa-cartel-deaths.html

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/
how-dark-fleet-tankers-helped-mexican-cartel-build-
fuel-smuggling-empire-2025-10-22/

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/
torrential-rains-flooding-leave-least-64-dead-65-missing-mexico-2025-10-13/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/11/
mexico-floods-kill-at-least-23-people-as-storms-head-north

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/
movies/frankenstein-guillermo-del-toro-monster-interview.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/18/
mexico-welfare-policies-amlo

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/
world/americas/fentanyl-us-mexico-route-cartel-smuggling.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
how-mexicos-cartels-recruit-children-groom-them-into-killers-2025-05-28/

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/
nx-s1-5406073/mexico-city-mayor-secretary-adviser-killed

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/
nx-s1-5328058/mexico-disappeared-jalisco-cartel

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/27/
nx-s1-5162314/pulitzer-winner-cristina-rivera-garza-death-takes-me

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/20/
nx-s1-5304248/mexico-warns-the-us-not-to-invade-our-sovereignty-
in-fight-against-cartels

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/
arts/music/paquita-la-del-barrio-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/17/
nx-s1-5300113/paquita-la-del-barrio-
a-giant-voice-of-mexican-heartbreak-and-rage-dies-at-77

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/01/
g-s1-46010/trump-tariffs-mexico-canada-and-china-imports

2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/
movies/silvia-pinal-dead.html

https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/oct/23/
a-buried-car-and-a-dancing-politician-photos-of-the-day-wednesday

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/
g-s1-29291/mexico-priest-peace-activist-killed

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/20/
nx-s1-5154850/mexican-president-claudia-sheinbaum-outlines-her-plan-
to-tackle-cartel-violence

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/20/
catholic-priest-mexico-killing/
ccacf6b4-8f14-11ef-b5b1-75167840d9f3_story.html

https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fil-dactualites/201024/
un-pretre-qui-s-opposait-aux-narcotrafiquants-assassine-au-mexique

https://elpais.com/mexico/2024-10-20/
asesinado-en-san-cristobal-de-las-casas-
un-sacerdote-conocido-por-su-activismo-a-favor-de-la-paz.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/19/
mexico-navy-seizes-more-than-eight-tonnes-of-elicit-cargo-in-record-drugs-bust

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/16/
mexican-official-war-on-drugs-bribe-sinaloa-cartel

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/15/
deaths-new-mexico-border-immigration

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/08/
mexico-murder-beheading-city-mayor-alejandro-arcos-catalan-chilpancingo

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/30/
mexico-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
mexicos-violent-sinaloa-state-logs-19-homicides-five-days-2024-09-14/

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/
nature-is-punishing-us-
drought-imperils-farmers-bees-mexicos-north-2024-08-27/

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/06/
g-s1-15377/women-in-blue-review

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/30/
mexico-chiapas-flee-to-guatemala

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/28/
mexican-drugs-lord-el-mayo-captured-ismael-zambada-garcia-sinaloa

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/26/
sinaloa-cartel-arrests-el-mayo

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/25/
sinaloa-cartel-leaders-arrested

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/
movies/mexico-cantinflas-maria-felix.html

https://www.propublica.org/article/
mexico-amlo-dea-probe-cartel-campaign-donations - July 19, 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/18/
us-mexico-sinaloa-china-drugs-money

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/
mass-fish-death-mexicos-chihuahua-state-blamed-severe-drought-2024-06-08/

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/06/
nx-s1-4977451/will-mexicos-president-elect-
help-relatives-looking-for-missing-loved-ones

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2024/may/28/
without-them-the-city-would-be-lost-
the-art-of-preserving-mexico-citys-ancient-floating-gardens
- Guardian picture gallery

https://www.mediapart.fr/studio/portfolios/
le-mexique-victime-de-ses-avocats - 15 May 2024

https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/culture-et-idees/130524/
le-sang-et-la-sueur-qui-composent-nos-assiettes

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/
world/americas/mexico-timeshare-fraud-cartel.html

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/25/
1226817598/totem-film-review

2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/
world/americas/violence-mexico-killings.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/
books/review/pedro-paramo-juan-rulfo.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/29/
mexico-guerrero-journalists-shot

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/18/
china-mexico-opioid-traficking-us-sanctions

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/
science/mexico-horses-vetirinary-care.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/03/
american-man-beating-death-tijuana-mexico

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/
a-mexican-town-celebrates-
even-as-it-mourns-the-victims-of-forced-disappearance-
theres-still-this-emptiness

https://www.gocomics.com/clayjones/2023/03/11

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/14/
1156093005/head-mexico-fbi-trial-cartel-bribes

2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/
world/americas/mexico-missing-children-maria-herrera-magdaleno.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2022/nov/01/
mexicos-day-of-the-dead-celebrations-in-pictures

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/
world/americas/mexico-iguala-missing-kidnapped-students.html

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/
1118858805/mexico-migrants-education-school-tijuana-children

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/20/
mexicos-ex-attorney-general-arrested-
over-disappearance-of-43-students-in-2014

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/
world/americas/mexico-students-disappearance.html

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/13/
1117381485/drug-cartel-arson-blockades-mexico-tijuana

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/
world/mexico-drought-monterrey-water.html

https://www.mediapart.fr/studio/documentaires/international/
silence-radio-carmen-aristegui-
la-journaliste-mexicaine-qui-ne-sera-pas-muselee - 30 July 2022

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/15/
1110472870/la-malinche

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/
1110693235/luis-echeverria-mexico-dirty-war-obit

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/
1097821325/mexico-journalists-killed-sinaloa-veracruz-attorney-general

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/17/
1081569489/mexicos-president-attacks-journalists

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/feb/15/
graciela-iturbide-at-80-in-pictures-mexico

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/
1078030913/7-years-later-
parents-of-missing-ayotzinapa-students-are-still-searching-for-ans

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/29/
1076663934/a-mexican-journalist-remembers-
her-2-colleagues-murdered-in-tijuana-this-month

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/29/
1076730068/a-call-for-mexico-to-investigate-murders-of-journalists

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/26/
1075881061/journalist-killings-in-mexico-raise-concerns-among-colleagues

2021

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/dec/04/
mexico-celebrated-through-the-eyes-of-designers-in-pictures

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/
insider/mexico-disappeared-photography.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/07/
1034925270/mexico-abortion-decriminalized-supreme-court

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/04/
1030964486/mexicos-journalists-hold-truth-to-power-and-lose-their-lives-for-it

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/sep/03/
frida-kahlo-quinceanera-mexico-photo-london-in-pictures

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/22/
1009024695/fear-shakes-mexico-border-city-after-violence-leaves-18-dead

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/12/
world/americas/mexico-city-train-crash.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/04/
1002834498/mexico-midterm-elections-2021-violence-record-races

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/01/
death-truck-mexico-morgue-crisis-guadalajara

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/21/
world/americas/guatemala-migrants-massacre-comitancillo.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/
world/americas/mexico-police-ambush.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/
world/americas/mexico-arrests-police-officers-over-massacre.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/
mexico-archaeologists-cannibalism-reprisal-conquest-aztec

2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/
world/americas/miriam-rodriguez-san-fernando.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/08/
mexico-cartel-project-synthetic-opioid-fentanyl-drugs

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/06/
murder-in-mexico-journalists-caught-in-the-crosshairs-
regina-martinez-cartel-project

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/16/
guerrero-at-war-chronicling-southern-mexico-forgotten-conflict-
photo-essay

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/13/
mexico-journalist-killing-violence

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/aug/07/
mexican-families-mourn-workers-claimed-by-covid-19-in-the-us--
photo-essay

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/
mexican-journalist-gunned-down-in-first-fatal-attack-of-2020

2019

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/09/
777686672/mexican-official-tries-to-move-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-tent-camps

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/nov/06/
mexico-war-with-drug-cartels-podcast

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/
world/americas/mexico-mormons-killed.html

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/12/
759882660/12-journalists-have-been-killed-in-mexico-this-year-
the-worlds-highest-toll

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/
mexico-vigilantes-violence-and-displacement-a-photo-essay

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/
searching-mexico-disappeared-photo-essay

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/23/
687579971/mexico-reports-
highest-ever-homicide-rate-in-2018-tops-33-000-investigations

2018

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=isfb5_k6O64 - NYT - 28 December 2018

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/21/
658900014/what-happened-to-mexicos-missing-43-students-
in-a-massacre-in-mexico

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/
656284029/mexicos-morgues-are-overflowing-as-its-murder-rate-rises

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/
world/americas/mexico-morgue-corpses-truck.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/30/
624055891/in-mexicos-elections-
women-are-running-in-unprecedented-numbers

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/
622275371/working-the-night-shift-for-mexico-citys-bloody-crime-tabloids

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/
opinion/ayotzinapa-mexico-students-disappeared.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/07/
607700928/mexico-deploys-a-formidable-deportation-force-
near-its-own-southern-border

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/apr/05/
community-police-groups-in-mexico-in-pictures

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/02/
582086654/mexicos-avocado-capital-says-it-s-kicked-cartels-off-the-farm

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/28/
581397075/former-mexican-president-vicente-fox-on-trump-and-false-prophets

2017

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/12/22/
572822696/number-of-journalists-killed-in-mexico-reaches-historical-high-
report-says

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/20/
572376155/mexican-crime-reporter-gumaro-perez-aguilando-shot-to-death

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/15/
528516976/mexican-journalist-who-covered-drug-trade-gunned-down-in-sinaloa

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/
527794495/mexico-is-called-worlds-second-most-violent-country

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/04/
522621303/with-murders-on-the-rise-
2017-on-track-to-be-one-of-mexicos-deadliest-years

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2017/mar/28/
very-edge-of-mexico-city-hinterlands-in-pictures

2016

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/13/
498271392/invisible-children-raised-in-the-u-s-now-struggling-in-mexico

https://www.npr.org/2016/09/23/
495216703/the-unsolved-case-of-43-missing-students-how-ayotzinapa-changed-mexico

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/sep/08/
alex-webb-la-calle-mexico-magnum-gallery?page=with%3Aimg-5

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/07/27/
blogs/searching-for-43-missing-students-deep-inside-the-real-mexico/s/
26-Lens-Emmanuel-slide-UHDD.html

2015

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/01/28/
382103750/mexico-officially-declares-43-missing-students-dead

2014

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/12/06/
369014138/remains-of-1-of-43-missing-mexican-students-identified

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/10/05/
353853385/mass-graves-found-in-mexico-near-place-
where-43-students-went-missing

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/10/10/
355140186/43-missing-students-1-missing-
mayor-of-crime-and-collusion-in-mexico

2012

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2012/dec/01/
mexico-drugs-trade

https://www.npr.org/2012/07/05/
156325907/old-politics-are-new-again-in-mexico

2011

https://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/
143429367/5-years-later-calderons-war-on-cartels

https://www.npr.org/2011/11/27/
142821489/icc-called-to-investigate-mexican-president

2010

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/05/
obama_welcomes_calderon_to_the.html

https://www.npr.org/2010/06/18/
127931110/violence-reaches-new-peak-in-mexican-drug-war

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/20/
127006055/immigration-tops-issues-during-calderon-visit

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/
126985036/drugs-immigration-top-agenda-of-calderon-visit

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/
126973073/tough-issues-on-the-table-during-calderons-visit

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/05/
obama_welcomes_calderon_to_the.html - May 19, 2010

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/
126890838/mexicos-drug-war-a-rigged-fight

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/
126906809/mexico-seems-to-favor-sinaloa-cartel-in-drug-war

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/
126962192/drug-war-in-focus-as-mexican-president-visits-u-s

https://www.npr.org/2010/03/08/
124454645/massacre-may-be-turning-point-in-mexico-drug-war

2009

https://www.npr.org/2009/10/13/
113742183/mexicos-president-seizes-state-run-electric-co

https://www.npr.org/2009/05/03/
103764622/criticism-builds-over-calderons-handling-of-flu

2008

https://www.npr.org/2008/12/01/
97546687/mexicos-1968-massacre-what-really-happened

2007

https://www.npr.org/2007/09/04/
14149809/mexicos-president-calderon-unhappy-with-u-s

2006

https://www.npr.org/2006/12/01/
6567193/calderons-swearing-in-marred-by-violence

1968

https://www.npr.org/2008/12/01/
97546687/mexicos-1968-massacre-what-really-happened

Mexico City        USA

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/
nx-s1-5406073/mexico-city-mayor-secretary-adviser-killed

southern state > Chiapas        UK

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/
g-s1-29291/mexico-priest-peace-activist-killed

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/30/
mexico-chiapas-flee-to-guatemala

southern state > Guerrero        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/08/
mexico-murder-beheading-city-mayor-alejandro-arcos-catalan-chilpancingo

western state > Michoacan        UK

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/
g-s1-96298/mexican-mayor-killed-during-day-of-the-dead

western state > Sinaloa

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
mexicos-violent-sinaloa-state-logs-19-homicides-five-days-2024-09-14/

floods        UK / USA

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/
torrential-rains-flooding-leave-least-64-dead-65-missing-mexico-2025-10-13/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/11/
mexico-floods-kill-at-least-23-people-as-storms-head-north

drug gangs        USA

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/13/
1117381485/drug-cartel-arson-blockades-mexico-tijuana

cartel        USA

https://www.gocomics.com/clayjones/2023/03/11

Jalisco New Generation

- One of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/
world/americas/mexico-timeshare-fraud-cartel.html

kingpin        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/28/
mexican-drugs-lord-el-mayo-captured-ismael-zambada-garcia-sinaloa

document the crisis of Mexico’s disappeared        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/
insider/mexico-disappeared-photography.html

Luis Echeverría Álvarez    1922-2022        USA

Former Mexican President Luis Echeverria

(was) blamed for some of Mexico's

worst political killings of the 20th century

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/
1110693235/luis-echeverria-mexico-dirty-war-obit

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