Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire

by Margaret Regan

An intimate look at the people ensnared by the US detention and deportation system, the largest in the world
 
On a bright Phoenix morning, Elena Santiago opened her door to find her house surrounded by a platoon of federal immigration agents. Her children screamed as the officers handcuffed her and drove her away. Within hours, she was deported to the rough border town of Nogales, Sonora, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her two-year-old daughter and fifteen-year-old son, both American citizens, were taken by the state of Arizona and consigned to foster care. Their mother’s only living undocumented in the United States.

Immigrants like Elena, who’ve lived in the United States for years, are being detained and deported at unprecedented rates. Thousands languish in detention centers—often torn from their families—for months or even years. Deportees are returned to violent Central American nations or unceremoniously dropped off in dangerous Mexican border towns. Despite the dangers of the desert crossing, many immigrants will slip across the border again, stopping at nothing to get home to their children.

Drawing on years of reporting in the Arizona-Mexico borderlands, journalist Margaret Regan tells their poignant stories. Inside the massive Eloy Detention Center, a for-profit private prison in Arizona, she meets detainee Yolanda Fontes, a mother separated from her three small children. In a Nogales soup kitchen, deportee Gustavo Sanchez, a young father who’d lived in Phoenix since the age of eight, agonizes about the risks of the journey back.

Regan demonstrates how increasingly draconian detention and deportation policies have broadened police powers , while enriching a private prison industry whose profits are derived from human suffering . She also documents the rise of resistance, profiling activists and young immigrant “Dreamers” who are fighting for the rights of the undocumented.

Compelling and heart-wrenching, Detained and Deported offers a rare glimpse into the lives of people ensnared in America’s immigration dragnet.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Justice

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[Tony Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sociology & Criminal Justice was 1 of my several undergrad degrees. I really liked this book, & plan on giving it to my favorite undergrad Professor who still teaches criminal justice classes.

As a retired MSW I have worked with several Hispanic illegal immigrants.
Brutal, bold, no holds barred & the author touched base on what really happens in/with the governmental system & of course worse to illegal immigrants.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great movie, a college PP presentation, or a mini TV series or even a documentary film (A & E, History channel). There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Goodreads; MakingConnections; Beacon Press; G. P. paperback book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

(won this for free in a Goodreads Giveaway)

This was a very, very hard book for me to read. Twice a week I teach an ESL class to mostly Spanish-speaking Central Americans and Mexicans, and a lot of them are in or have been in the same position that many people in this book were in. It's heartbreaking, to put it mildly. I don't care what your opinion is of illegal immigration, nobody deserves to be treated the way that the US government and state governments treat immigrants.

[Susan O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written, intimate, and heartbreaking. Regan does an excellent job capturing the personal impact on people of the immigration policies of the last 20 years. Highly recommended reading.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do human rights only apply to American citizens? This book really made me wonder if that is what our government and citizens believe. Sad book, very eye opening.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book for everyone who is concerned about the state of immigration rights in this country! Like most, I would like to blame Donald Trump for the stories we read and hear about detention and deportation - but, while its true that things have gotten much worse under Mr. Trump, the sad fact is that they were bad long before his orange head made its first appearance on a political stage. This book was published in 2015, and tells truly horrific stories about the condition of detention centers in southern Arizona (the home of the author, and the place - along with Nogales, Mexico - where many of the book's stories take place). Regan describes the prison-like conditions in virtually all of the so-called "detention centers," the inhumane practice of dumping immigrants newly released from detention at a Greyhound station in the middle of the night, and the inhumanity of Arizona laws that allow (indeed, encourage!) law enforcement officers to arrest people for minor infractions (a car with a broken taillight, for example) so as to turn them over to the Border Patrol. She introduces us to people - good people, leading useful lives, with families in the U.S. - who are torn apart by arbitrary judges, working to make a "quota" of arrests and sentences. While I suspect an updated version of this book would be even more chilling, there is nothing here that is not still happening today and it's a good introduction to the scope of the problem!

[Vanessa Campos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look into the Obama-era immigration laws and the devastating effect they had on migrants' and immigrants' lives in the 2010s.

My only criticism is that the author will sometimes use Spanglish to help the reader understand the meaning of Spanish vocab and colloquialisms and it'll come off as awkward and a little condescending. I can't explain it, but the intermittent use of Spanish in the non-quoted text stuck inbetween English comes off as awkward and I much rather preferred for her to just give the reader the translation and then move on (this will happen with words that aren't always proper nouns). It's easy for me to say as someone who understands Spanish so there was no need for the translations, but I think the implementation of Spanish in certain areas of the book made it seem more like a textbook for Spanish learners than just using the appropriate wordage to get her point across.

However I have two words to sum up my feelings about this book—

FUCK ICE.

[Nathalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of detainees on the US/Mexico border. I feel both horrified and embarrassed (though never surprised) by the lack of humanity and levels of cruelty that ICE and for profit prisons use against immigrants. Regan tells the stories of families desperate to stay together and the high price that innocent children pay when your birthplace determines being treated like a human or like garbage. This is both a disturbing book and a book that should be read widely. It is something that racist POS should be reading, because most likely their families, back a few generations may have experience the same trauma. How short our memories are, and how hard our hearts are. Regan's magnifying glass forces us to look at what our government is doing and work to change it for the better.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

"An intimate look at the people ensnared by the US detention and deportation system, the largest in the world."

Understanding the lives of those outside our everyday experiences is essential to a cooperative, civilized society. Detained and Deported puts a real face to the plight of undocumented immigrants and their families in the United States. Highly recommended.

4 stars

Received paperback from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Detained and Deported the summer before my freshmen year in university. It was a wonderful and emotional introduction book in to the world of undocumented Americans. The book covers topics about detention centers, homeless shelters for the undocumented, and the aftermath of being deported. I would definitely suggest reading if you are curious about the inside stories of those who are deported or detained.

[Marty Greenwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

True stories of people caught in the immigration fiasco. People with kids born here - separated and placed in prisons (detention centers ). Many of these are private and with little scrutiny. Given to me by Amy Martin, who grew up in Tuscon. Good and important book. Here's to all the people who help.

[Sue Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

More for research than anything, I'm still interested in what is going on right now with the immigration issue. Learning a lot and some of it is disturbing.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book describing the immigration detention process

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me right back to my week's Witness at the Border, enlarging on the stories I heard and breaking my heart again and again.

[Alisia Muir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This read makes you think about the irony that engulfs the "immigration" debate.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing, to say the least.
Very hard to read as these families are ripped apart just because they want a better life.
I can’t imagine the long term psychological effects on the children.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book because someone picked it for our book club. Wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. Writer is heavily biased but the book is a fast read.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

The real ah-ha/duh isn't stated until page 232 in the epilogue: "Americans didn't know their own history: the United States shared plenty of blame for the families showing up on its doorstep." There's the rub; that and the absurdity of criminalizing people who are so clearly of the land that they are banished from by people who celebrate their own immigrant background that brought as many brave freedom-seeking people as it did disease-issuing criminals and rapists. Add our economy's DEPENDENCY on undocumented labor and the imprisonment/deportation machine as a pillar of profitable incarceration. Anyone who manages to pay less than $100 for a garment or who doesn't grow their own food should know this, as we are all complicit but obviously not all of us are aware. My guess is that this book is designed to speak for itself and permit telling the stories of immigrants (Latino - overwhelmingly Mexican and Guatemalan, so the scope is limited and the title is too general) and the horrors they face just to lead decent lives speak to the fundamental injustice in them being treated so inhumanely with particular attention to families being ripped apart. But I don't believe that's illuminating for people who truly see them as "aliens" and aside from thinking they could be treated a bit better, believe they bring all that they experience on themselves. People born into privilege (like birth in the U.S.) mistakenly feel that they earned it, so they feel that people born into less fortunate circumstances earned it as well. Add the requisite stateside racism and learned ignorance of other people and their aims for being here (not that Latinos don't bring plenty of their own racist and culturally denigrating ideals with them). All of that is the mentality I believe this book seeks to dismantle. Good luck with that. Regan is accurate in the deep, yet constricted scope of her reporting. So the role of Latinos who prey on one another is mentioned when it applies, which of course has a sexist component as well as many others. I admire that she runs the risk of depicting those she details in some cases being irresponsible and in denial in the interest of larger aims and risk-taking - again something that is championed by other immigrants but not the ones whose ancestors preceded the U.S. and their own Spanish colonizers. I think the real risk Regan takes is trusting that the personal stories sprinkled with some larger history and facts will illuminate all of this and the inhumanity of current policies moreso than anything else. That makes this book more journalistic than persuasive for me, but I'm glad others didn't think so. Finally, I was struck by how parents prepare themselves and their kids to "live under the radar" less they be deported due to racial profiling. The similarity of black people who have been here for generations (as well as those who have not) doing the same so that they won't be incarcerated, beaten or killed (a version of being deported within our own country - that you neither us or our ancestors asked to be a part of) struck a chord. And sadly, I think that would draw some of us who read this book to lack sympathy when in fact it's empathy that makes the most sense. Finally, perhaps because I'm a second generation Angeleno and have worked on the non-profit side of the juvenile and adult detainment systems, I find none of this surprising or new. Doesn't mean I don't find it quite ridiculous and disheartening.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 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.”

[Sher Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a "must read" for every US citizen who knows in their heart that something must be done about immigration reform. Margaret Regan exposes through her research and interviews with the victims the great injustice of our current system. She presents a balanced report having interviews with border patrol, ICE, immigration attorneys, humanitarians working on the border and the immigrants themselves. She has visited with the later in the Corporately owned and operated prison-like detention centers. Even more shocking are the stories of immigrants who have worked for many years in the US, and then for a minor offense such as a traffic ticket, are deported, separated from their children and left with no options or legal avenues. Many of the women have been victims of sexual abuse on both sides of the border. Tears came to my eyes as I read these stories and I had to put the book down sometimes, just to regain control of my frustration and anger at the inhuman treatment and criminalization of immigrants.

Detained and Deported is not a happy story but one which must be told if we are to truly be the country we say we are, one which stands up for justice for all. These undocumented people are not "illegals"---they are our neighbors fleeing poverty, injustice and often violence. There is a statistic that "Undocumented workers have contributed $300 billion to our Social Security coffers," money they will never see if they are incarcerated and deported. We must end the racism, intolerance and fear that is behind the "Anti-Immigrant" movement. Regan's book gives us the facts and ammunition to do that.

[PacaLipstick Gramma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book from a Goodreads Giveaway.
This book is heavy on facts, statistical info, government and non-government agencies that run detention centers in the Southwest.
Concentration camps are thriving in the area, only they aren't called that, government has given them a "nice, respectable" name. Detention Centers for Illegal Immigrants.
The treatment, and lack thereof, is deplorable. It is beyond the scope of my imagination how humans can treat others so reprehensible. Basic human needs are withheld from people. Food? Just barely. Availability of personal cleanliness and hygiene? Almost nonexistent. People are literally thrown into cramped, freezing quarters (60°, summer and winter) with only the clothes on their back. No blankets, inadequate clothing to keep them warm. Sickness. And so much worse.
No. They do not kill people, but the agencies have blood on their hands. Suicides happen frequently.
Yes, they all have stories. Yes, they are here illegally.
But this inhuman treatment needs to stop.
ALL LIVES MATTER.
I am donating this book to my local library for their shelves. The atrocities committed against others needs to STOP.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 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.

[Sabrina Laitinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detained and Deported is a fast paced read about immigration issues in the U.S. Although it does have some mention of some central and South American countries (i.e. Honduras, San Salvador)the main focus remains on Mexican immigrants.

Margaret Regan profiles immigrant families she has come to know, and in some cases has followed their journey. Information is backed with a reference guide for verification and further readings. The stories are interesting and really touch on some of the sad issues and plights of some vary brave people.

I had hoped, however, that the book would have been more unbiased and objective. There is a definite slant towards legalization of Mexican immigrants. Regardless of a person's opinion and stance on this extremely controversial matter, Margaret Regan has written this tome looking at one side of the story.

I received this from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book, one I'm glad I read, although it had me alternately crying and so furious I wanted to hit something. This well-researched, well-written, compelling book shows on a very personal level the capriciousness, unfairness, inhumanity and cruelty of our current immigration system. The stories of these individuals, irreparably harmed by our system, and in our names, and with our tax dollars, are unforgettable. Made me want to chain myself to a bus. Or something. America, we can do better than this. We are all diminished by the maltreatment of those who want only to be a part of us. Even if we are too stupid to realize what immigrants add to our country and let more in, we need to treat these human beings . . . like they are human beings. Prisoners of war get better treatment.

[Eileen Satullo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perfect sequel to Margaret Regan's excellent first book, The Death of Josseline. This book about the thousands of immigrants held in detention centers throughout the U.S. Is heartbreaking, But one hopes its straightforward and often lovely prose might reach some of those who would demonize immigrants who want only to work hard for a decent life. Parts of this book made me feel ashamed that we, a nation of immigrants, can't do better than this. Read this book and share it with everyone you know, especially those who think they know how they feel about US policy at the Mexixo- Arizona border.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heartbreaking examination of the way border politics affects one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States: undocumented workers and their families. Unlike many works of investigative journalism, where I often feel the journalists are flying in for the weekend before going back to another life, Regan feels entirely invested in her subject. I wish good things for this book including that it find its way into the hands of every legislator trying to reform immigration policy in humane and ethical ways.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regan’s earlier book, the Death of Josseline covered the experiences of those crossing the border from Mexico to the U.S. This book covers what happens when undocumented individuals are placed in detention facilities and facing deportation - in many cases separated from their young children who are American citizens and are placed into foster care. Some of the sub-human treatment is beginning to be addressed, but there is a long way to go. The book ends quite abruptly, which I think is due to the rapidly changing scenarios, including the Dream Act.

[Doug Bivens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the most difficult works I have ever read. Reading it(it has facts and statistics to back up what the author says) for me was quite eye opening but don't expect to finish it quickly(it took me two months). In the climate today(trump wanting to ban immigrants and clinton wanting to let more in for example) this work is a must read for anyone wanting a better understanding of the immigration issue and how america isnt doing its job and needs to be fixed on this front before more immigrants come in.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detained and Deported is a book that makes one think. It brings out the detained and deported stories of illegal immigrants in a human way. It offers no solutions to the problem, nor did it fundamentally alter my thinking on the subject. It did somewhat open my eyes to the plight of the immigrants, however.

I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads.

[Dawn Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really eye opening. Felt like I should read it because the border is so close to my home. Bittersweet in many ways because well for I take a lot of my freedoms in the U.S for granted, while others are basically dying/fighting/ and detained for the same freedoms I'm fortunate to have. Everyone should it