Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire

by Margaret Regan

Hardcover, 2015

Status

Available

Publication

Beacon Press (2015), 272 pages

Description

"The United States is detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants at a rate never before seen in American history. Hundreds of thousands languish in immigration detention centers, separated from their families, sometimes for years. Deportees are dropped off unceremoniously in sometimes dangerous Mexican border towns, or flown back to crime-ridden Central American nations. Many of the deported have lived in the United States for years, and have U.S. citizen children; despite the legal consequences, many cross the border again. Using volatile Arizona as a case study of the system, Margaret Regan conjures up the harshness of the detention centers hidden away the countryside and travels to Mexico and Guatemala to report on the fate of deportees stranded far from their families in the United States"--… (more)

Rating

(19 ratings; 4.2)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ozzer
Margaret Regan’s account of the personal toll of our broken immigration system has an Alice in Wonderland quality. “There is a place like no other place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger. Some say to survive it, you need to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily I
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am.”—Lewis Carroll. Illegal immigrants fall down a rabbit hole filled with inconsistencies and measures that seem to be designed to dehumanize them. There seem to be few good outcomes. Many are caught and returned; the less fortunate die in the desert; many are incarcerated indefinitely with little legal recourse; the “lucky” ones live in fear of being arrested and deported for simple things like blown license plate lights. The saddest outcomes involve the separation of small children from their parents.

MS Regan tells the story using first hand accounts of people caught in our inhumane and broken immigration system. This book is less an indictment of the people who enter the US illegally than it is of the failings of current US policies in which immigration and citizenship have been politicized with little regard for the human costs. Our legal solutions for the crime of illegally entering the US often seem “cruel and unusual” and one wonders why more humane methods cannot be implemented. Under our current system, the most humane solutions seem to be just to ignore the broken system and deliver relief in various forms like picking people up at bus stations in the middle of the night, giving them temporary food and lodging or even bus fare. These ad hoc solutions occur on both sides of the border.

Using first hand accounts, MS Regan depicts most of the many flaws with the current immigration system on the US-Mexican border. Clearly, measures like fences, increased detention/deportation and Arizona's SB1070 have done little to reduce the problem. The detention centers are little more than for profit prisons that have effectively lobbied to maintain their inmate populations, while doing little to alleviate the problem. Perversions like the “streamline court” are an insult to the idea of justice. These are combined with non-judicial punishments designed to dehumanize the immigrants. Detainees are not provided with adequate meals or medical care, and are housed in cells that are deliberately maintained at very low temperatures. Their warm clothing is taken from them. Other measures like NAFTA and drug enforcement efforts have the unintended consequence of exacerbating the problem.

Is this presentation biased? It probably is because it sets out to tell the story of the immigrants and not that of the enforcers or those living on the border. Regan is not attempting to present a balanced view; instead she is trying to show the human toll of a broken and politicized system. Indeed, rules are being broken, but one has to ask if these rules are just and humane. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words are relevant here: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
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LibraryThing member bragan
Margaret Regan tells the stories of a number of undocumented immigrants (mostly Mexican nationals) arrested in Arizona and either detained by ICE, or deported, or both. Some of these folks were brought to the US as children and grew up here, others came fleeing violence or abuse, and a truly
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depressing number have children who are US citizens, from whom they were forcibly separated. (Regan also provides statistics on that last point, in particular, making it clear that these are not unusual cases at all.)

The result is an exposé of sorts of America's (and especially Arizona's) handling of these people, which includes holding them under poor conditions (in uncomfortably cold rooms, often without adequate food or medical care) in detention centers that make a profit from imprisoning them; making it difficult for them to contact their families, who might not know they were even picked up or have any idea where they are; ramrodding them through the legal process, often without even explaining their rights to them; dumping them across the border in an unfamiliar city with nothing but the clothes on their backs and no easy way to get word to their loved ones; and, of course, separating parents from children, some of whom then end up in the US foster care system.

Some of these stories are heartbreaking, and I don't think you have to have ultra-liberal opinions on the subject of immigration for them to make you think that something is badly wrong with this system. If you are already pro-immigration, they'll undoubtedly just make you angry. Whatever your stance, I think it's good to see these things. It's all too easy, in the course of political debate, to regard it all as an abstraction and forget that there are actual human lives involved, or even to think of them as an undifferentiated mass of "undesirables," rather than as people at all. Putting a real human face on things is necessary and important.

Regan herself, although she clearly cares for these people and is writing this book about them for a reason, avoids climbing up onto a soapbox and lecturing her readers about how to feel, or how to vote. Instead, she lets the people she talks to, and the facts of the matter, speak for themselves, which I think is exactly the right tack to take.
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LibraryThing member WillowOne
Margaret Regan's book Detained and Deported is written in three parts, the first Detention, the second Deportation and the third Resistance. The stories told within these pages opened my eyes to what is happening within our own country. We hear many stories about illegals, but we never hear their
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personal stories. We are told those that are picked up by ICE will have a fair trial, this is not always the case and many sit for years in prisons. They are not called prisons but that is exactly what they are. The stories will force you to look at this problem in a different light. What if you were brought to this country as a baby and then at 21 taken by authorities and sent to a country you have never known? Our immigration law and those surrounding illegals needs to be reformed now. I could readily say it needed to be changed yesterday but that can't happen. The dehumanization of these immigrants is unacceptable. How we treat fellow humans that have done nothing accept trying to make a better life for themselves and their families is wrong. Not one of us accept for the American Indian can say their family didn't come here as an immigrant.
I suggest this book to any at all on the front lines of the immigration issue and every American that has an opinion on the subject. We need to arm ourselves with facts before forming an educated opinion. I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member avidreader85
This book didn't really do it for me. I was thrown off by the authors attempt to gain sympathy for the people featured in this book. Obviously some of the experiences were horrible but the writer doesn't seem to look very deep into what's going on. She talks about the people who are deported and
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risk their lives on a journey back to america because they have family or children with no one to care for them back in the states which is understandable. But she doesn't look at the fact that as an illegal immigrant they knew and took the risks of living in the country illegally and raising a family and most didn't even attempt to become legal citizens while they were in the country. So why are they trying to gain sympathy when they are deported? The writers also shows plenty of statistics of the death toll for those who cross the border illegally and die out in the desert then tries to blame the government for the fact that these people died out in the desert. Where does personal responsibility come in. Is it the US' job to make illegally crossing of the border less dangerous? Even worse still is that the author tries to create a false light of innocence over everyone she encounters for the book including one young woman who bought a black market social security card so she could get a job even though she was illegal. The author tries to draw sympathy for this girl by downplaying her crime and acting shocked when the young woman is charged with identity theft. Which is in fact the crime the girl committed. She stole someone elses identity and all though it was for the young girl to work who can say she wouldn't open up a credit card or two somewhere down the line with that same stolen ID. The author spends too much time trying to make those she interviewed as victims and she hardly even scratches the surface of immigration. She makes no mention of the people who sneak into the US carrying a criminal background from their own native countries. She makes no mention of the job losses to illegal immigrants or the drained resources. She doesn't mention the property damage and robberies of farms near the borders that are frequently crossed. Those are the real victims and yet she conveniently neglects to bring them up at all. This book is completely one sided and not worth the time to read it.
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LibraryThing member GlennBell
This book provides a first hand account of immigration in the U.S. The focus of the book is on immigration from Mexico and Central America. The author is a humanitarian who is trying to bring to light the misery of the illegal immigrants. This is not a topic that I personally have knowledge of so
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it was educational. I am confident that it is somewhat of a one-sided view but it is based on personal experience.
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LibraryThing member Fullmoonblue
"Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire" by Margaret Regan is a powerful and provocative look at the failings of the current US immigration system.

"The little girl I saw crying under the table in the family visiting room...haunts me still. Her name was Jacqueline, she was
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an American citizen, and she was four years old. It struck me that this tiny child was bearing the full burden of her country's immigration policies on her own small shoulders," Regan writes in the introduction. From that point forward, the reader sees examples of the human cost of the politicization of immigration and citizenship.

With its thematic sections on experiences of Detention, Deportation, and Resistance, this book offers a moving glimpse of the struggles faced by American families with undocumented members.
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LibraryThing member sincostani
An important book that opens your eyes to the unbelievable and unconscionable treatment of so-called undocumented people in America. Their stories are heartbreaking not only after they have been detained and/or deported, but even as they are forced to try and live their lives under the radar with
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no rights, which puts them at a high risk of being taken advantage of and abused. This book really makes you think about whether international borders are morally defensible, many of which are redrawn arbitrarily dividing communities and families and depriving people of opportunities and safety simply based on one's luck in where they were born.
I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers giveaway programme.
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LibraryThing member stephvin
This was a very informative book describing the stories of immigrants detained in the US awaiting hearings to determine if they could successfully remain in the U.S.. Ms. Regan did a great job of describing the conditions at the camps and the sometimes heart breaking stories of families torn apart.
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I gave the book three stars due to the repetitive nature of the stories but the book is extremely well researched and written
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LibraryThing member JeffV
This is the second book in the past year I've read that ought to convince any thinking person that our immigration system is seriously broken and out of control. This book is about sanctioned atrocities against immigrants and their families - including incarceration in privately-run "detention
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centers" that don't even meet the humanitarian standards of our regular prisons. Often these people are "detained" for years as they wait for the glacial court system to finally get around to reviewing their case.

One of the common themes is one frequently in the news of late: undocumented parents with US citizen children. The desire for a safe, unified family is greater than whatever threats we can make to personal liberty -- many of these people come right back to this country as soon as possible. Except now we've fully criminalized them, making them more desperate to avoid detection -- and driving them to support organized crime by paying large sums of money to "coyotes" who get them across the border.

Another problem is the crackdown at urban crossing areas, forcing immigrants to take dangerous, sometimes fatal. journeys into the desert. Sometimes these people are picked up by border patrol agents who have to then deal with medical emergencies while at the same time trying to incarcerate them.

Margaret Regan interviews a wide range of displaced immigrants in various private and public institutions, as well as support groups that exist to provide aid for these unfortunate people. It seems incredible that in spite of what these people endure, here is still where they want to be. And some of the stories are so horrifying that we should be ashamed as a nation: One young lady's crime was having been brought to this country when she was 3 months old. After excelling as a student in high school, she had to take a job at a Subway restaurant when her mother became ill with leukemia. She was a perfect employee, and her employer even went out of the way to testify on her behalf. Yet she was forced to plead guilty of a felony charge of working while being ineligible to do so, and it took 2 more years of living in detention centers while her attorney pursued every avenue of opportunity to keep her here, eventually succeeding although she still can't work.

Private prisons, overzealous border patrol police, and laws authorizing inhumane treatment of human beings (Arizona by far the worst) all require immediate fixing. Politicians who don't think of their housekeepers and gardeners as being people are to blame -- Hispanics have a poor record of participation in government -- they need to organize replace those responsible if anything is ever going to change.
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LibraryThing member dandelionroots
Focusing on the disregard the current undocumented immigrant detainment/deportation system has for families, Regan showcases the blatant abuse endemic in Border Patrol and ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operations via an array of case studies. Detainment centers tasked with holding
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individuals until their hearing dates (with stays ranging from a couple days to several years as opposed to releasing them pending trial which would save considerable tax dollars) are largely run by private, for-profit prison companies. Since detainment is not legally meant as punishment and is temporary, these companies are free from many of the regulations imposed by the government for actual prisons regarding occupants' welfare, resulting in unbearable living conditions. Increasingly, many of the deported have lived and worked in the US for decades and barely remember their birth country, yet are dropped at the most convenient border crossing with only the possessions they had when arrested facing prolonged/permanent separation from their spouse/children. Regardless of your stance on immigration policies, this compilation of misery propagated by private industry argues that the current detainment/deportation system is inhumane and intentionally convoluted to maximize profits.
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LibraryThing member FCClibraryoshkosh
What does it mean when people talk about "illegals"? They mean people, mothers, fathers, grandparents. They mean the stories found in "Detained and Deported" by Margaret Regan. Stories of families torn apart, of hardship and pain. The next time someone starts moaning about the evils of immigration
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have them read just one of these stories and maybe they will relize that they are talking about human beings who did what they thought was the best thing for their families.
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LibraryThing member difreda
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ― Benjamin Franklin
OUCH! Margaret Regan delivers a hard punch in the gut with the stories of immigrant families and their treatment by the U.S. Immigration system in her book "Detained and Deported".
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This is raw uncut footage of "illegal" immigrants caught in the social "in"-Justices and Machievelian twists if a tortuous immigration system in America. My in-laws talked about the hardships they encountered when they immigrated to the US through Ellis Island as they sought refuge from persecution in Eastern Europe. Theirs pales as compared to the experiences of those who "illegally" cross America's Southern borders today. Extended incarcerations of years, felony convictions for those caught in human trafficking's clutches, the agonies of separations from family are caught in this compelling narrative that screams for U.S. Immigration reform and social justice for those illegally entering Ameica's borders. Readers beware- this book will open your eyes to a hidden world of injustice, greed, and averice in how America "deals" with "illegal" immigrants. Is this really the land of freedon , opportunity and "justice" anymore? Not for those who choose to risk all to enter America's borders without a "Golden Ticket"! Read and weep!
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LibraryThing member SherylHendrix
This is an important book and should be a must read for everyone in the United States as most of us have absolutely no clue what we as a country are doing to the most vulnerable of our own citizens. I'm not even finished reading this book, but this quote from page 118 was what made me want to
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review this even before I'd finished reading: "ICE's figures show that from July 2010 to September 2012 - the period during which Elena was expelled from the country - the United States deported some 204,816 parents who left behind children who were US citizens." The story of Elena - who was brought her by her mother when she was 13, and as a single parent of two children was deported to leave those children behind (the option of bringing them with her wasn't even given) to be placed into foster care, is appalling. "If the number of deported parents is high, the number of children left essentially parentless is staggering. Between 2998 and 2013, researches estimate that some 660,000 US citizen children lost a parent to deportation." "In Arizona, anecdotal evidence shows that hundreds of kids of deportees are being held in foster care on any given day, Laurie told me. Ironically, at the same time that Arizona's CPS was taking custody of kids with perfectly capable parents like Elena, the agency was being investigated by the state for its failure to monitor more than six thousand troubled families on its rolls. Many of their children had been abused or neglected; a few ended up dead." This book is so disturbing and people don't take into account the fact that much of the southwest portions of the US belonged to Mexico until the mid-1800s and the Spanish culture there is embedded into the society. People who come from Central America to the US for better opportunities don't feel alienated when they arrive here - they view it just as an extension of home, only away from the cartels and gun-violence which, ironically, has developed as a result of the United States exporting weapons to these countries, and our drug dependent culture encouraging the cartels to make their money here. I'm sorry to have to say this, but we are the ones responsible for the immigration issue and we are the ones who are taking responsible immigrants away from the children who are then left here to become alienated because they lack the family ties that could have been saved had we not deported their parents. Donald Trump - wake up and smell the roses - you are turning them into dung because of your misguided zeal!
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LibraryThing member NMarieSmith
Detained and Deported (Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire)
ISBN: 978-0807079836
Author: Margaret Regan

Well written and compelling, Ms. Regan has succeeded in writing a book that all of us need to read.

I have to say Detained and Deported shook me to the core. As a Mid-westerner, the press has
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done a remarkable job of keeping us in the dark, and
I had no idea of the immigrant situation in the Southwestern United States. I am appalled and disheartened by what we “Americans” are capable of doing to those seeking a better life.

Long gone are the days when America opened its arms to the tired, the poor, and those yearning to breathe free. Our attitude now seems to be “We don’t want you here, but we’re more than happy to incarcerate you”. Prison for profit. Abuse. Inadequate housing and food. Random racial profiling by law enforcement and border guards. Brought here as a child by your parents? Fleeing persecution or violence? Too bad! Back you go.

Thank God for the volunteers and activists who are working so hard to help, comfort, inform, feed, clothe, and house undocumented immigrants! The system has not only failed these people, but has been designed to extend their suffering. This has to stop, and the sooner Americans open their eyes to what is going on at present in their country, the sooner lives can be saved, and families can be restored.
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LibraryThing member owen1218
With the distance of time, Americans today are vocally critical of WW2-era Japanese detention centers. But there is mostly only science around today's immigration detention centers-- despite being vastly less humane in their treatment of inmates. Margaret Regan helps shed like on the subject, by
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telling the stories of immigrant families trapped by the US dragnet, and by showing that those being deported aren't who the demagogues would want you to think.
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LibraryThing member catscritch
Detained and Deported, Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire, Margaret Regan

While reading this quick-paced, information packed book, I kept thinking “what a great story” as Regan laid out one fascinating character after another, walked me through streets that I’d never venture on my own
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and informing me of near medieval punishments that the U.S. allows to perpetrate policies to “protect” the American way of life.

Then I realized… these aren’t stories. These are people! Individuals caught up in the harrowing trap of trying to better their lives, escape unimaginable circumstances and just attempting to be families. After reading this book, I realized this is a problem that needs to be addressed yesterday!

This book contains many different voices that flow together to allow the reader to understand the situation from a different perspective. The haves against the have nots. The unnecessary barbarism inflicted on men, women and children that get caught up in the continuing struggle of life in the U.S.A. A must-read for all Americans whose ancestors were riding the waves of migration back when it was a free for all.
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LibraryThing member enoch_elijah
Detained and Deported:
Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire
Author: Margaret Regan
Isbn: 978-0-8070-7983-6

This book was published in 2015, but it is certainly not out of date! The political temperament of the day makes this book necessary reading, though I wish that the ones reading would step
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back and look at it as a humanitarian rather than a political document. What is more, I wish and I sincerely pray that those who profess to be Christians would read it in light of their relationship to Christ and not in light of their political allegiances.

Sadly, that is where the greatest challenge is.

You see, I lay a charge against the church in America today. I charge that the sin of American Christianity is that it sees itself as American first and Christian second. This church embraces Romans 13:1 and forgets all about Acts 5:29!

This charge is one I will write more on in a more appropriate place. For now, it comes to mind because Margaret Regan has written about a real tragedy. This book is about the treatment of immigrant families at the hands of our authorities and the suffering being endured by fellow human beings. It is comprised of story after story of men, women, and children who face terrible conditions, inhumane treatment, and institutional neglect.

It is about children left behind and alone when parents are arrested and imprisoned for the crime of working and trying to provide. It is about husbands and wives torn apart from the over zealous persecution of a crime that does not merit or call for the severe response it seems to elicit.

Look, I know how some (sadly, even Christians!) will argue here. These people are committing crimes! These people should come by legal means! These people are taking jobs from Americans and keeping wages low!

I can appreciate the concerns even if I don’t care for the manner in which they are presented. And this is an issue I will be writing on again.

All I can say is read this book. Look upon the people it speaks of as fellow human beings and have some empathy for the suffering of those around us.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

8.78 inches

ISBN

9780807071946
Page: 0.2873 seconds