A closer look at the images and faces in this Times series.

No matter how tired the women from Palomas were from their six-day work week, attending the Saturday night Spanish mass at Holy Trinity was key. For spirituality, yes, but the church service was a magnet for the spring influx of Hispanics, which included eligible young Mexican men. Above, Ana Rosa, Ceci and Guadalupe pray. Times photo: JOSHUA DAUTOFF

“If you really loved her, you will come and meet us and build the road the right way,” Ana Rosa’s mother told Fermin, her fiancee. The 19-year-old illegal construction worker had to decide whether to risk his job in North Carolina to return to Mexico to marry Ana Rosa. [Times photo: PAM ROYAL]

The women brought cameras on their last day of work and requested a farewell group photo. From left to right: Delia, Nelida, Ana Rosa, Olga, Alma. (Missing are Ceci and Guadalupe.) In the center is Mickey Daniels Jr., surrounded by his sons, Mickey T. and Miles, and his nephew, Gary Beacham. [Times photo: PAM ROYAL]

One of their first paychecks went for the purchase of a CD player, and soon the music from Mexico was blasting in the trailer. Ceci played traditional nortenas and disco, but the heart throb Alejandro Fernandez was a favorite. [Times photo: JOSHUA DAUTOFF]

“In Palomas, there are bad people, but for some reason, you don’t see them as vividly as you see them in the U.S., where your eyes are open to see the badness,” Delia said. But in Danny, a Mexican man she met in North Carolina, Delia was sure she found utter goodness. On the night before she returned to Palomas, he taught her to drive. [Times photo: PAM ROYAL]

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