Summary Of Detained And Deported '

Detained and Deported: A Political Nonfiction Novel The novel Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire by Margaret Regan is one of the most engaging political nonfiction book to be written. This was because the author included many personal stories that took the novel from being just facts and numbers, to the lives of actual people. The reasons that the novel is of the political nonfiction genre are that it discusses many government run programs and how they affect the lives of others, by using personal stories, facts and real events. A political nonfiction novel is about social impacts, political viewpoints, government programs and people that are affected by the government’s decisions and laws. One of the programs

Living in centers like Eloy and Estrella was a miserable experience for immigrants, because they are cruel, degrading and depressing. The inmates were often treated like animals by the authority figures around them, and the word “barked” was used in abundance when referring to how the officers communicated with the immigrants. One of the most disturbing experiences discussed in Detained and Deported was when Marianna was transferred to Estrella. She and sixteen others got chained up by hand and foot, and boarded a bus. Once they arrived at their new residence, the women were split into groups of four so that they could be searched. The individual groups entered a room and were forced to take all clothing off including undergarments. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Marianna and the women were then instructed to “bend over and open up your cheeks and cough” (Regan 57). Not only is this embarrassing, it’s degrading and an insult. There are many more respectful ways to search people. One of the things that made Eloy a depressing place to live was the covered windows. They had been painted over in black which forced the cellmates to depend on electric lights. These lights were kept on at all times so that guards could keep an eye on the immigrants, but made it difficult for the immigrants to fall asleep (Regan 35). Something as simple as the lighting, contributed to the difficult conditions that the immigrants in Eloy had to deal with. Regan’s ability to illustrate to the readers what living in these places was like, allows her to explain how people dealt with the social impacts of being an illegal