Photos | Love beyond borders: US-Mexico gates open to reunions, a wedding

A US man and a Mexican woman exchanged vows between the doors of a steel border gate that is opened for only an hour or so every year in a first for an opening of the gate known as the Door of Hope. Eleven other families also re-united with friends and relatives living on the other side of the border.

Updated on: Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM IST

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

Bride Evelia Reyes and groom Brian Houston, living on different sides of the US-Mexico border, embrace after getting married during the annual “Opening the Door of Hope” event at the border fence gate in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. It was the sixth time that the gate opened since 2013, allowing people from the US and Mexico who cannot legally cross the border to meet their families without fear of deportation. (Guillermo Arias / AFP)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

Border patrol agents open a gate at the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California. The event was put on at Friendship Park which straddles San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. Opening every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the park otherwise allows families to catch glimpses of each other through a steel mesh fence. (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images / AFP)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

Evelia Reyes looks into the US at Friendship Park through the border fence from the Mexican side, before getting married to Brian Houston. Twelve families lined up on Saturday at the door for their chance to meet loved ones on the other side --for three minutes each. (Howard Lipin / AP)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

Brian Houston, who lives in San Diego, kisses his bride Evelia Reyes, who lives in Mexico with her daughter Alexis as Border Patrol agents look on. To arrange the wedding, the couple worked with Enrique Morones, executive director of the Border Angels group that organizes the gate openings. (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images / AFP)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

A mother and son embrace as patrol agents open the gate to allow selected families to meet along the US-Mexico border. The Border Angels group takes meeting requests from families and forwards the names to the State Department, which conducts checks and makes the final decision. “While some people want to build walls, we want to open doors”, Morones said. (Mike Blake / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

There are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, many of them from Mexico. The US-Mexico border is more than 3000 km long and traverses all sorts of terrain. To prevent illegal immigration from Mexico, President Donald Trump has set in motion a plan to build an ‘impenetrable’ wall. (Jorge Duenes / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

People hold conversations through the US-Mexico border wall at Border Field State Park in San Diego, California. The gate opening took place about 15 miles west of where the eight prototypes for Trump’s wall have been built. (Mike Blake / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2017 9:20 AM

A hand reaches across the border to wave through the fence along the border wall in California. At other times, families can talk but not touch through the steel fencing. The prototype of Trump’s 30-feet tall barrier are bereft of any gates. (Mike Blake / REUTERS)