Miguel Perez’ story made headlines earlier this year when the decorated U.S. Army veteran and legal permanent resident was deported to Mexico. Perez, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD, moved to the U.S. as a child. He was turned over to ICE

The sketches and art featured below were collected over the past year from immigrants formerly detained at the Cibola County Detention Center in Grants, NM. They come to us courtesy of the Program for Access to Legal Services, which is a joint project between the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

Recently, I interviewed Vasudha Talla, Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Northern California, about her current work around immigrant detention — and what keeps her up at night. Cindy Knoebel: I understand that you’re actively involved in detention and immigration issues. Can you talk more about this?

Eleven months ago Alexey Kharis went to DHS in San Francisco to receive the verdict on his appeal for political asylum. Then he was arrested and thrown into detention. This is his wife Anna’s story. (Part 2 of 2) I met my Alexey in 2007 when I was in