Lost in Detention

Democracy Now: Lost in Detention report

As Obama Admin Deports Record 400,000, Film Explores What Immigrants Face Behind Bars

The Obama administration has released new figures showing U.S. deportations of immigrants reached a record high. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it deported nearly 400,000 people in fiscal year 2011, the highest total in the agency’s eight years. The data was released the same day a coalition of Latino and immigrant rights groups held a National Day of Action to protest Obama’s immigration policies. The protesters called for an immediate end to the "Secure Communities" program, which requires local police to forward fingerprints of every person they arrest to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. More than one million immigrants have been deported during Obama’s tenure, even as efforts to reform immigration policy have languished. A new PBS Frontline documentary, "Lost in Detention," investigates the immigration program under Obama. We are joined by the award-winning broadcast journalist who led the investigation, Maria Hinojosa.

Documentary: Harvest of Loneliness-The Bracero Program

Harvest of Loneliness website

Documentary by UCI Chicano/Latino studies professor Gilbert Gonzalez explores history of the Bracero Program.

Arizona’s controversial new immigration law has reignited heated debates on how best to address the country’s growing number of undocumented immigrants. In looking to future policies and programs, says Gilbert Gonzalez, Chicano/Latino studies professor, it’s important to reexamine the past. In a new documentary, “The Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Program,” Gonzalez and Vivian Price, an alumna of UCI's political science doctoral program, explore the historical accounts of migrant Mexican farm workers brought into the U.S. from 1942-1964 under the temporary contract worker program known as the Bracero Program.