HEADING BACK TO THE BORDER!

CBP & Border Patrol approved my trip!

Hey, everyone!

In about a week, I’ll be heading back to the southern border with my cameras, equipment, and years of experience documenting America’s border crisis.

Customs and Border Protection has approved my request to film border wall construction, among other things.

I put concertina wire on the border wall where cartel members cut the wire and were getting thousands of illegal aliens over. Jacumba, California, 2024.

Border Patrol agents in the San Diego Sector will help me obtain new footage for my upcoming documentaries, including possible escorts and ride-alongs. I’m also considering traveling into Arizona and turning this into a month-long documentary road trip.

Border Patrol leadership recently confirmed that border-wall construction is ongoing and “should be continuing for some time.” That presents an important opportunity to document the work as it happens—not months or years later, but from the ground while crews are actively building and improving America’s border defenses.

The privately funded border wall we built with triple-amputee vet Brian Kolfage

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This will not be my first time filming border-wall construction.

I served as the photographer and news editor for the team that built the first privately funded border wall in American history near El Paso. Triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage raised $25 million to build walls and formed We Build the Wall.

Brian Kolfage at the top of the wall he had built. Photo: Jeff Rainforth

I documented the first project from the beginning, photographing and filming the construction process from start to finish.

I watched an empty stretch of rugged terrain transform into a fortified border barrier. I filmed the excavation, heavy equipment, steel installation, and crews working under extremely difficult conditions.

Before-and-during photos of where our border wall was built. Photos: Jeff Rainforth

What began as an ambitious plan became a physical structure rising up a mountain on the border.

Our border wall under construction. Photo: Jeff Rainforth

That experience started a much larger chapter of my life and work.

From 2021 through 2024, I spent extensive periods along the southern border documenting the historic crisis that unfolded during Biden’s term. I filmed illegal aliens crossing into the United States, Border Patrol agents processing enormous groups, and overwhelmed communities dealing with the consequences of unchecked immigration.

Lukeville, Arizona, on the border, 2023

I didn’t watch the crisis from a television studio or read about it from thousands of miles away. I stood in the desert, traveled through remote border regions, and filmed what was happening directly in front of me. And I spent about $50,000 of my own money to get it done.

I have also traveled internationally to document border walls, barriers, and defense systems used by other countries. Those assignments gave me a wider perspective on how nations protect their territory and how physical barriers work alongside surveillance technology, personnel, roads, lighting, and other infrastructure.

The massive border wall near Jerusalem.

A border wall is not simply a line of steel standing by itself. It is one component of a larger defensive system—and I want this new documentary work to show viewers how that system operates.

During this upcoming trip, I plan to document the current state of construction, speak with the people responsible for protecting the border, and show what has changed since my previous assignments. I want to capture the terrain, equipment, barriers, and daily operational realities faced by the agents working there.

The San Diego Sector offers a particularly important setting. It includes urban areas, rugged mountains, remote terrain, and one of the most historically active border regions in the country. If the Arizona portion comes together, I’ll also be able to document another dramatically different environment and compare the challenges faced across multiple sectors.

Being interviewed by Nick Shirley in Jacumba, California.

This trip will require substantial travel, preparation, and equipment. I’ll be bringing professional cameras, GoPros, a drone, stabilization equipment, and other gear needed to operate in remote areas and harsh desert conditions. I plan to be away from home and on the border at least a month. As always, the goal is to return with enough original material for documentaries, news reporting, social media coverage, and a lasting historical archive.

Much of what Americans believe about the border is shaped by short news clips and political arguments. My goal is to go beyond those fragments and create a detailed visual record of what is actually happening.

I’m excited to get back into the field. This is where my border work began, and this trip represents the next chapter.

The cameras are being prepared. The route is taking shape. Border Patrol and CBP are helping open the doors—and soon, I’ll be back on the border filming America’s defenses being built in real time.

Let’s Go!!! America #1! 💥💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸