Imagine the person you love most being taken from you. Your spouse, your parent, your sibling, shipped off with little warning. Or imagine having grown up in the United States and being deported to a country in which you have no friends or family, no prospects for work. You don’t even speak the language.
For scores of people, these scenarios are not imaginary. Every day, about 1,000 people are deported from the United States. Devastated spouses and children, families torn apart by U.S. immigration policy, are left to pick up the pieces. This week, dozens of people affected by the U.S. deportation policy are marching the Trail to End Deportations. Their trek began at the Phoenix office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office and ends at the Eloy Detention Center, drawing attention to the immoral practice of mass deportation.
“We walk to Eloy as part of the National Day of Action against Deportations because we need to make our suffering known, and also our power,” the marchers wrote in a recent statement. “Eloy is known as one of the worst detention centers in the country: two people committed suicide there in the last year and solitary confinement is a regular punishment for trying to exercise your rights inside.” Read more
