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#flashHeader{visibility:visible !important;}Almost every day of the week in places like Mesa, Ariz., federal authorities send planes filled with deportees back to Central America. Originally arrested for anything from traffic offenses to murder, they end up patted down and shackled with 100 others who had been in this contry illegally. Even more are deported by land across the Mexican border.
During President Obama’s first term of office, authorities deported a record 1.5 million people. A majority fell into several categories â€" those who had recently crossed United States borders illegally, repeat violators of immigration laws and those with a criminal record, according to the White House.
I have photographed this stark ritual often in the last few years. But in the United States, law enforcement restrictions that photojournalists not show the faces of immigrants in their custody has made it hard, at times, to humanize the images.
So, on this last trip to Arizona, the challenge for me was to find deported â€" or soon-to-be-deported â€" immigrants not in federal custody. One place was the San Juan Bosco shelter in Nogales, ! Mexico, not far from the United States-Mexico border. The shelter, open for more than 30 years, gives recently deported immigrants â€" or those about to try to cross into Arizona â€" a place to sleep for three nights. In most cases, the immigrants have never been to Nogales before, so the shelter provides a safe place, away from predatory gangs who target this vulnerable population along much of the Mexican side of the border.
John Moore/Getty Images A 28-year-old undocumented immigrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, in the Maricopa County Tent City jail in Phoenix. The jail, run by Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, maintains a much-debated policy of isuing striped uniforms and pink undershirts to inmates, despite a continuing court challenge. The man preferred not to give his name, but said he worked as a migrant farm laborer for six months each year in the United States for the last decade. He said he was stopped for a traffic violation and jailed for driving without a license. As an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, he may be deported to Mexico after serving his jail sentence.On the other side of the border, I tried to give a glimpse into immigrants whose journey here ended in Arizona jails. In Maricopa County, Sheriff Joseph Arpaio runs the Tent City jail, where immigrants serve sentences for criminal offenses, and are often deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials afterward. The jail maintains a policy of issuing pink undergarments and striped uniforms to detainees.
Some immigrants in the ! jail are ! there for violent crimes and drug trafficking, but others were stopped for traffic violations, then jailed for not having driver’s licenses. In Arizona, the state law SB 1070 encourages local police to investigate the immigration status of people stopped for even minor offenses, like a burned-out brake light.
Some of the men I encountered in the jail have lived in the United States for many years with families, including their children born in the United States. Most, if convicted, will very likely be deported after serving their sentences.
The immigrants who allowed me to photograph them shared stories of a hard life. Most had come to the United States to provide for their families. But even with the challenges of crossing through the desert, being caught by immigration authorities and serving time in detention, most of the immigrants told me the ame thing.
They will try to come back.
John Moore/Getty Images Glegario Ramirez, 44, at Maricopa County tent jail. Mr. Ramirez was arrested in Phoenix in November for drug possession. He said he had been living with his family in Phoenix and previously Los Angeles for a total of 34 years.Follow Lens on Facebook and Twitter.
