Margaret Regan (2)

“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". 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 show more 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! show less

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 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.

“She was a little girl with a big name, Josseline Jamileth Hernandez Quinteros.” Thanks to Margaret Regan no one who reads ‘The Death of Josseline’ will ever forget her.

Regan takes the tragic death of this fourteen year old undocumented migrant and weaves it though a series of chapters that deal with a variety of immigration border issues in Arizona. With the astute view point of a journalist, Regan takes several of her previously reported stories in the Tucson Weekly, and fleshes show more them out with her personal experiences traveling with both the Border Patrol and various activists to document the stories of the migrant, and today’s current headlines. She allows us to see through the eyes of the traveler the reasons they risk their lives in the harsh Sonoran desert environment and brutal heat of the Arizona summer to reach the ‘promised land’ in order to make a better life for themselves.

We hear from all the players in the cast from conservationists, activists, border agents, vigilantes, border land owners and the migrants themselves as Regan provides a cache all of comments. We get her unbiased view of the triple whammy: “habitat fragmentation, funneling of migrants, border enforcement” and see how we as a people have tied each others hands in a desperate fight to secure our borders to the South.

No matter you personal feelings in this ongoing trial by fire one thing stands out above all else. These migrants are human first and foremost and illegal as a secondary thought and do not deserve to die in their flight to freedom. Regan’s portrayal is at once insightful and sympathetic in its telling; one that deserves to read by all humanity. show less

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 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 show more 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. show less