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 offense: 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.
#372176 in Books imusti 2016-09-06 2016-09-06Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .70 x 6.00l; .0 #File Name: 0807033197248 pagesBeacon Press
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great book! Wasn't the quickest readBy Matthew RubinGreat book! Wasn't the quickest read; but I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot about amazing women that I had never heard of before; but we all should. I also had countless moments of thinking "oh wow I want to read more about that!"; and by the end; probably half the citations in the end notes had been highlighted.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Execelent capture the history and culture of the Domestic work ...By Barbara YoungExecelent capture the history and culture of the Domestic work industry here in USA every worker should read this book.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Fills a gap in labor historyBy ChrisThis book seeks to counteract the pop cultural trope that black domestic workers (maids) are passive and loving mammies (see The Help; Gone with the Wind; etc) Domestic workers acted as the backbone to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other civil rights projects. Without the support of black domestics; who made up the bulk of bus riders; the boycott would have been dead on arrival. These women also participated in a positive way by cooking and selling food to raise money for the boycott. One of the domestics profiled in the book provided a safe place (and safe food) for Martin Luther King during the boycott.Their participation in the civil rights movement gave these black women the organizing experience and confidence to agitate for better working conditions. Before they began to organize; the jobs of black domestics were hellish (not that they get treated like Silicon valley CEOs now). Women were picked up at “slave markets†downtown; physically examined; partially paid in leftovers and hand-me-downs; paid starvation wages; and in general treated as less than human.Organizing workers is always an uphill battle; but organizing domestic workers was like climbing a sheer mountain face. They’ve all got different employers; they all work in different locations; and after scrubbing the floor on their hands and knees they don’t necessarily have the energy to organize and attend a meeting. In addition to this; domestic workers have traditionally been ignored by the established industrial unions.The author details the various groups these women formed. The domestics developed model contracts; training programs; and petitioned legislatures for the extension of workplace protections. Household work had not been legally been considered work. As a result; domestic workers were not subject to the minimum wage or workplace safety laws.The author’s major of theme of this book is the importance of storytelling to these women. Getting together to vent their frustration about how cheap Mrs. Smith is instills a sense of solidarity in these women. Additionally; when maids have to discuss how awful their jobs are in public hearings; it gains them sympathy for their cause of better work conditions.These brave African American women were able to score some victories. The minimum wage was extended to domestic workers (some of them anyway) and they do have some basic workplace protections. The fact that they were able to organize and achieve anything in the face of many obstacles is really impressive.By writing this book and working with domestic workers organizations; Premilla Nadasen; professor of history at Barnard College; has her heart in the right place. Unfortunately this book comes off as overly academic. I wish that the author could liven up her writing style. The strongest parts of the book are when the author is conveying and quoting the stories of the domestics. I also wish that there had been more than four photographs in the book. It’s helpful to have a face go with a name. Despite my criticism of the writing style; this is a well-researched history that fills a void and I learned a good deal. I hope that in the future the author considers doing an oral history project of present day domestic workers.
