One night in March, Dolores parked on the shoulder of Interstate 70 just west of the Missouri River. A Ford pickup pulled over. She handed the driver $1,050, and her 15-year-old son emerged from the truck's camper shell. [more]

In a bedroom that doubles as the living room of this weathered-brick farmhouse, only a collage of photographs on the dresser can keep Dona Reyna's family together. [more]

Money that Mexican workers earn here pays for food, schooling and sometimes a luxury back home in poor villages. But the benefits bring hardships: Family members left behind struggle alone, waiting for the next call from St. Louis. [more]

Charter bus from home means bittersweet reunions [more]

Wearing a camouflage jacket that cloaks the semi-automatic handgun at his waist, Chris Simcox aims his binoculars less than a mile away toward the seven strands of barbed wire that divide this remote desert town from Mexico. Since October 2002, the Moline, Ill., native has made it his self-appointed duty to send illegal immigrants back to the other side of the barbed-wire border. Simcox calls it a "neighborhood watch." [more]

Using a 1996 law, it is also cracking down on aliens who commit more routine crimes, such as assault or drug offenses. Critics say minor criminals are being swept up in unnecessarily harsh measures. [more]

WASHINGTON - The Belmontes brothers - Jose, Andres and Alejandro - boarded a bus in Villanueva, Mexico, in late February, en route to $7.25-an-hour jobs with Loyet Landscape Maintenance in St. Charles. [more]

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View photos from the 4-part series. [more]

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