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Photos: A Graduation, A Celebration, And Self-Deportation

The Atlantic
June 3, 2026 at 5:15 PM
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Photos: A Graduation, A Celebration, And Self-Deportation

John Moore, a photojournalist with Getty Images, recently traveled with Marvin Suazo and his family on a final trip before a painful separation, when Suazo self-deported to Honduras. The family fled Honduras in 2014, seeking asylum in the U.S., but Suazo was ineligible because of a previous deportation.

Family members cheer on students at a graduation ceremony.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha Suazo, 23, stands to be recognized for magna cum laude honors as her father, Marvin Suazo, and mother, Maribel Vasquez, cheer during a graduation ceremony at Yale University on May 18, 2026, in New Haven, Connecticut. Samantha, originally from Honduras, was naturalized as an American citizen in 2025 and became the first member of her family to graduate from college, receiving a B.A. in sociology and from Yale’s Ethnicity, Race, Migration program. She left Honduras at age 11 with her parents seeking asylum, and the family settled in Big Sky, Montana.
A wide view of a college-graduation ceremony in a courtyard.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha Suazo and fellow students at Saybrook College graduate from Yale University on May 18, 2026.
Parents at a graduation ceremony embrace their graduating daughter.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha Suazo embraces her father, Marvin, as her mother, Maribel, looks on at Samantha’s graduation ceremony on May 18, 2026. When Marvin first brought his family to the United States in 2014, he established a construction company, and Maribel cleaned homes for local residents in Montana. Samantha and Maribel went through the formal U.S. asylum process, although Marvin was ineligible for asylum due to a previous deportation, and he remained undocumented in the U.S. In early 2026, ICE agents deported six of his construction employees following a raid. Under immense stress, the family made a heartbreaking decision to sacrifice family cohesion: Marvin would self-deport to Honduras following Samantha’s graduation from Yale, and the rest of the family would remain living in the U.S.
A young woman poses with her parents after her graduation ceremony.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha poses with her parents after her graduation ceremony.
A family watches as a girl does a cartwheel near the Washington Monument.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha and her parents watch as her sister, Zhoe, 11, does cartwheels during a family visit to the Washington Monument on May 18, 2026, in Washington, D.C. After their decision for Marvin to self-deport to Honduras, the family traveled one last time together, down the East Coast, visiting Washington, D.C., Orlando, and Miami before separating.
Several people lean against the base of the Washington Monument.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha and her family touch the cool marble of the Washington Monument during a family visit to the Capitol on May 20, 2026.
Several National Guard soldiers look on as tourists walk past the Washington Monument.
John Moore / Getty
National Guard soldiers look on as Honduran immigrants Maribel Vasquez and Marvin Suazo walk past the Washington Monument on May 20, 2026.
A father and daughter hold hands while walking.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin and his daughter Zhoe hold hands while walking near the White House on May 20, 2026.
A family of four looks through fencing at ongoing construction at the White House.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin and his family look through fencing at ongoing construction at the White House while touring the Capitol on May 20, 2026.
People smile and relax inside a car on a hot day.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha cools off inside an air-conditioned car during a visit with her family and boyfriend to Washington, D.C. on May 20, 2026.
People enjoy a water park with a tall volcano-shaped structure spewing water at center.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin and his family visited Universal Volcano Bay water park during their family trip, on May 21, 2026, in Orlando, Florida.
A family embraces while sitting at a table.
John Moore / Getty
An immigrant family, soon to be separated, enjoys a round of drinks on a final family trip on May 24, 2026, in Miami, a day before Marvin Suazo was to self-deport to Honduras.
A husband and wife face each other, sitting close, talking.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin and his wife, Maribel, speak during their last hours together on May 25, 2026 in Miami, Florida.
A father holds his young daughter while placing her in a car.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin Suazo cradles his distraught U.S.-born daughter Zhoe at the Miami airport before his flight to Honduras on May 25, 2026.
A distraught girl is comforted by her big sister.
John Moore / Getty
Zhoe Suazo is comforted by her big sister, Samantha, at the Miami airport, ahead of their father Marvin’s self-deportation flight.
A man passes through a TSA checkpoint at an airport.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin Suazo passes through a TSA checkpoint at the Miami airport on May 25, 2026, while self-deporting to Honduras.
A man, seated in a window seat on an airplane
John Moore / Getty
Marvin travels on an American Airlines flight to Comayagua, Honduras, on May 25, 2026.
People seated inside a passenger aircraft
John Moore / Getty
Marvin was accompanied on his trip to Honduras by his daughter Samantha.
An aerial view of a Catholic church in a hillside Honduran village
John Moore / Getty
An aerial view of a Catholic church in the village of Lagunas, recently refurbished by remittance money sent from Honduran expats living in the United States, seen on May 27, 2026, near Comayagua, Honduras, Marvin Suazo’s family village.
Family members greet each other in a courtyard.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha Suazo and her father, Marvin, visit extended family in the village of Lagunas on May 25, 2026.
A man makes tortillas in a kitchen with his mother.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin helps his mother make tortillas in the village of El Junco. After leaving the U.S., Marvin will be rejoining his extended family, coffee farmers in a mountainous region of central Honduras. With savings from his work in the U.S., he purchased a new home and fields to seed with coffee, and is more financially prosperous than when he left the region with his family a dozen years before.
A young woman stands in front of a whiteboard, speaking to students in a classroom.
John Moore / Getty
Samantha Suazo speaks to a class in the school she had attended as a child in the village of Lagunas on May 26, 2026. Samantha, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, will return to New Haven, Connecticut, to work at an immigrant-advocacy nonprofit before applying to law school for the 2027 academic year.
An elderly man sits beside his grandson, embracing him.
John Moore / Getty
Esteban Suazo, 100, receives a visit from his grandson Marvin in the village of El Junco on May 27, 2026.
A man leans over to plant seedlings in a field as another man sits nearby.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin Suazo plants coffee seedlings at his farm on May 26, 2026, in the village of El Junco.
The hands of a person planting seedlings in small dirt-filled cylinders
John Moore / Getty
Marvin plants coffee seedlings at his farm near Comayagua, Honduras.
An aerial view of small farms in a village in a hilly, forested area in Honduras
John Moore / Getty
An aerial view of Marvin and his daughter Samantha standing beside rows of seedlings on his farm, on May 26, 2026.
A man stands on a balcony, watching farm workers pass by below in a pickup truck.
John Moore / Getty
Marvin Suazo watches as a truckload of coffee-farm workers pass by after he returned to the village of Lagunas on May 26, 2026, near Comayagua, Honduras.
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Original source:

https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/06/photos-graduation-celebration-and-self-deportation-honduras/687414/?utm_source=feed