Nick Oza

Invisible Lines

Bodo tribal man in Assam. Some of the tribals are so poor that they had a hard time feeding their families.

Women drying grains in the Dhubri district in Assam

An elder from the Rajbongshi tribe rests after work

High School students with their bikes come out of their school

A Bangladeshi immigrant walks near the border near Golakganj at the Indian border patrol checkpost in the late evening before the curfew starts in the border region. Golakganj is located in the Dhubri district of Assam. These immigrants bribe $10 to $12 to cross the border, and once they come to India, they apply for false ration cards to vote. One hundred-and-sixty- mile long India-Bangladesh border passes through Assam where some areas are fenced up, and the rest is open land. Poverty in Bangladesh is so dire that people are trying to cross illegally to India to find work. Most illegal immigrants travel to big cities like Mumbai to work at construction sites or other sectors to earn their leaving

34. A woman from the Rajbongshi tribe, one of the tribal communities in Assam's Goalpara district, peeks out from behind a wall in her village. Local says Bangladeshi are taking over the tribal land

Several roads and bridges are incomplete for a long time in Assam. Locals say the government is not doing enough to build infrastructure and illegal immigration

Bangladesh migrants work at the brick factory livings in the town of Dhubri, State of Assam in India

Bangladeshi migrants work with bamboo trees to make various household items in Dhubri

Bangladeshi migrants fishing in Brahmaputra river

Bangladeshi cycling in the village of Satrasal at the Indian Border Patrol Check Post during the late evening before the curfew starts on the border region. Satrasal is located in the Dhubri District of Assam. These immigrant bribes $10 to $12 to cross the border, and once they come to India, they apply for false ration cards to vote. One hundred sixty miles long India-Bangladesh border area in Assam where some of the borders are fenced and the rest is open land. Poverty in Bangladesh is so dire that people are trying to cross illegally to India to find work. Most illegal immigrants travel to big cities like Mumbai to work as construction workers or other labor jobs to earn their leaving

Bangladeshi migrants were fishing in Brahmaputra River, which is the dividing international border in some parts between Bangladesh and India, in the State of Assam. Poverty in Bangladesh is so dire that people are trying to cross illegally to India to find work. Most illegal immigrants travel to big cities like Mumbai to work as construction workers or other labor jobs to earn their living

Flock of ducks crossing the road in Dhubri, Assam

Bangladeshi workers rest while looking at the downtown Mumbai skyline

Debitola High School female students walkout from their school

High School students with their bike walkout from their school

Women working in a tea plantation in Assam, India

Tribal teen holding food and vegetable bag

Local Bodo tribe family came to pray at Mahamaya Temple in Dhubri District in Assam, India. Hindus and Muslims both believe miracles would happen while praying to the goddess

Muslim youth rides towards Madrassa in Dhubri. Dhubri's 75 percent of the population follows Islam.

Portrait of Urmila Roy showing the photograph of herself and her mom, who fainted while some Bangladeshi gang members took over their property. Local police and local government are very corrupt in this border city.

Nick Oza is an Indian American photographer born in Mumbai. Starting in 2006, he has been working with the Arizona Republic as a staff photographer. He specialises in covering social issues, among them immigration, child welfare, gangs, and mental health. Oza was part of the Knight-Ridder team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2006 for its coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and 2017 The Wall Project for USA Today. In 2003 and 2005, he was embedded with the U.S. military to photograph the Iraq war for Knight-Ridder. He has received more than 120 awards for his work, including 2018, & 2012 Rocky Mountain Emmy for his video documenting problems in Arizona’s Child Protective Services. His works have been exhibited extensively.

Invisible Lines

I visited Assam, India, in 2010 as part of my global photography project on immigration. I had already witnessed several immigration-related issues in the US and wanted to compare them with the situation in other countries. During my two-week-long stay in Assam, I visited several border towns to understand more about the unique problems faced by the people there. I witnessed so much poverty in Assam even as immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh were trying to cross the border to escape the economic turmoil in their country.

Almost 10 years have passed since I returned from Assam. And the immigrant situation across the globe has turned much worse in the last few years. Why do people sell everything they own and just leave their country? It is not that they like to do it. Geopolitics, climate change, and communal or racial violence play key roles in uprooting people from their homelands. One thing I found common in all these people, who struggle to move across the borders, is their survival instinct. It is their only wealth when they leave in search of a new home.

The photos in this series were part of the Pulitzer entry in 2010.

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