In commemoration of this Day of Remembrance, I am honored to share that “The Camps America Built” website is officially live. Visit thecampsamericabuilt.com or click the link in my bio.
In 1942, the U.S. government forcibly incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese Americans in 10 concentration camps under the false pretense of national security. Congress funded the effort. The public largely looked away. Not a single person was ever convicted of espionage.
Yesterday, Trump visited a new detention facility in the Florida Everglades—nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”—designed to hold 5,000 undocumented immigrants. He toured the cages with Governor DeSantis and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, laughing with reporters.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” a $170.7 billion immigration enforcement package that includes $45 billion for detention—a 265% increase to ICE’s budget. The Florida facility alone will cost $450 million annually, covered by FEMA. The first detainees are expected to arrive today.
All of this is justified by the claim that undocumented migrants pose a threat. In reality, only about 8% of arrested migrants have been convicted of violent crimes.
As we did in 1942, we are detaining thousands under the enduring fever dream that America is under siege—only this time, it comes at the expense of Medicaid, SNAP, and other public welfare programs. With the bill’s passage, up to 12 million Americans could lose access to health care or food assistance—not just to cut taxes for the wealthy, but to fund more modern day concentration camps.
Through portraits and testimonies, #NatGeoExplorer Haruka Sakaguchi has been documenting the experiences of survivors and their descendants about the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II. In her latest project with the National Geographic Society Impact Story Lab, they seek to answer an important question: What does it mean to be a loyal American?
Sakaguchi follows the story of Keige Kaku who, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was discharged from the U.S. Army, imprisoned because of his Japanese ancestry, and deported. Eighty years later, Kaku's son Henry retraces his father’s footsteps. Watch the film "Loyal American" at the link in our bio.
In my latest Framework post, I take you behind the scenes of a recent assignment for @guardian , where I had the privilege of contributing to Madeleine Aggeler’s story on Rachel Waters: a woman who gave her dying mother morphine in her final hours and was subsequently charged with murder. Read more via the link in bio.
Photo editors! I’ll be in Tokyo from May 20-30, 2026. If you think my work could be a good fit for an upcoming project or collaboration, please reach out at [email protected]. I’d love to connect.
Honored to be recognized at the @icp Infinity Awards this past week alongside @joel_meyerowitz , @collierschorrstudio , @tarrahkrajnak_studio , and Betty Catroux. What a privilege to be in the company of artists I’ve admired for many years.
This moment feels especially meaningful as I approach a decade in this field. This work is grounded in the trust and generosity of my collaborators, and I owe it entirely to those who have been willing to share their stories with me.
Grateful to celebrate alongside my dear friend and mentor Elizabeth Krist, Kaitlin Yarnall of @insidenatgeo who believed in this work, @vincentjmusi who invited me up on stage three years ago at my first @natgeo Storytellers Summit, the entire @icp team who brought The Camps America Built to life through so many thoughtful iterations over the past few months, and of course Fred, who has been there through the highs and lows of a career that is as unpredictable as it is life-giving. My heart is full.
Photos by Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com (@yvonnetnt ) and Jenna Bascom for ICP (@jennabascom ) 📸
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the opening reception of The Camps America Built at @icp yesterday.
What a privilege it was to be in conversation with Professor Mika Kennedy, community public historian Julie Abo (@yoshiko4009 ), and curator Sara Ickow (@sasickow ), and to celebrate the exhibit with a packed room, even on a rainy day.
Thank you to @marleytriggstewart , @jaqdon , @pasinee__p , and the rest of the incredible @icp team for bringing this program to life and for making space for this history—one that is still being written.
Photo by my dear friend @elizkrist 📸
This Saturday, I will be celebrating the opening of The Camps America Built at @icp , joined by Julie Abo (@yoshiko4009 ), a community public historian and descendant of the camps, and Mika Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at Ithaca College from 2-3pm, followed by a tea reception from 3-4pm.
Join us as we reflect on the legacies of Japanese American incarceration during World War II and how this history continues to surface in the headlines today.
Tickets at the link in bio. Zoom options also available. Hope to see you there!
Grateful to Yuvan Kumar (@van_tage_point ) of @icp for this thoughtful interview around The Camps America Built and for indulging me in the kind of cerebral conversation that usually makes me a terrible guest at dinner parties 💁♀️ Full interview at the link in bio.
Photographer Haruka Sakaguchi (@hsakag ), the 2026 ICP Infinity Award honoree for Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism, speaks about The Camps America Built, her current exhibition in ICP’s Incubator Space, and what this recognition means to her.
Bringing together portraits, landscapes, personal testimony, and archival material, The Camps America Built traces the lasting impact of Japanese American incarceration during World War II—centering the voices of those who lived through it and the generations that followed. Through handwritten letters and return journeys to former camp sites, Sakaguchi considers how history is remembered, and what it means to carry it forward.
Watch the full video to hear more.
Head to the link in bio to read an in-depth interview with Sakaguchi, then visit ICP’s Incubator Space, free and open to the public, before May 25 to see the exhibition.
Continue the conversation in person at ICP on April 25 by attending a talk with Sakaguchi, community public historian Julie Abo (@yoshiko4009 ), and Professor Mika Kennedy, followed by a tea reception. RSVP at the link in bio.
In my latest Framework post, I share what I’ve learned about photographing portraits over the past decade, and how I went from a painfully shy “still life” photographer to making portraits for a living. Read it now via the link in bio.
The recent @aperturefnd feature on @reallouismendes reminded me of a portrait I made of him in his home nine years ago while working on my project, The Original New Yorkers.
A native of Jamaica, Queens, Louis is best known as the impeccably dressed man carrying a vintage Speed Graphic camera through the streets of New York. He not only invited this fledgling photographer into his home but also sent her off with an old Pentax film camera.
I owe much of my career to strangers like Louis, who opened their homes to a scrappy photographer with little more than a secondhand camera and a half-baked dream.
