The Cruel Detention of Immigrants Didn’t Start With Trump — And It Won’t End With Him, Either
Since the 1980s, the US prison system for detaining immigrants has grown exponentially, under Democratic and Republican presidents alike. The “nation of immigrants” has created a pervasive system of surveillance and control that makes life hell for those yearning to breathe free.
Immigrants stand together along the US/Mexican border wall as they wait to turn themselves over to the US Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
In December 2015, Mayra Machado took her three kids to shop for Christmas decorations in a mall in Springdale, a suburb of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Ever since her miscarriage a few months earlier, her family had been depressed, so she hoped Christmas decorations would bring some cheer to their lives. Dominic (10), Dayanara (8), and Dorian (6) were excited about the upcoming holidays.
On the car ride home, Dominic realized he had left his eyeglasses at the Hobby Lobby they had visited, and so Mayra turned her car around and returned to the store. Raising three kids was difficult after the father of her children had abandoned the family. But she had a good job as an ophthalmologist’s assistant and a new fiancé.
Her hopeful future came crashing down when a police officer pulled Machado over for failing to yield, an offense she claims never happened. He discovered that Machado had an unpaid traffic fine for another failure to yield charge. Although she offered to pay the ticket immediately with a credit card, the officer arrested her and had her car towed away.
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