"He could smell unwashed bodies in the cramped room he shared with 40 detainees. He listened as men, many of them arrested at car washes or outside Home Depots, cried in the night for their loved ones. Minguela, 48, lay in the chilly downtown Los Angeles ICE facility known as B 18 and thought about his partner of eight years and their three children."
"He didn't know that Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference there to inveigh against President Trump's efforts to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives through redistricting in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents were massing nearby, creating a show of force outside the event. As they moved in, one agent narrowed in on Minguela's delivery van. Soon, he was in handcuffs, arrested for overstaying a tourist visa. As his lawyer put it, Minguela became "political, collateral damage.""
Angel Minguela Palacios endured bright lights, concrete floors, and the smell of unwashed bodies while sharing a cramped room with 40 detainees, using tennis shoes as a pillow. Men arrested at car washes and stores cried at night for loved ones. Minguela, 48, feared for his partner and three children after building a secure life over ten years in the United States. On Aug. 14 he was arrested by Border Patrol while delivering strawberries near a political event and charged with overstaying a tourist visa. He spent six days in the downtown Los Angeles ICE processing center B 18, where several detainees chose self-deportation because of harsh conditions. Minguela fled Mexico in 2015 after facing violence.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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