Deportation in 90 Minutes or Less

Upon arriving, the judge advises the migrants en masse of the charges and their constitutional rights. In a few cases the charge is simply "illegal entry," a misdemeanor. But for most of the defendants, this is not the first time they've been caught trying to enter the country, and they are charged with both the misdemeanor and felony "illegal entry." The judge then offers those defendants a plea bargain: Plead guilty to the misdemeanor entry, and the felony entry charge (which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison) will be dismissed. The felony entry charge is "the easiest felony to prove and the fastest-growing felony in the country," says Isabel Garcia, the co-chair of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos and Pima County Legal Defender. At the end of each group's sentencing, prisoners are led out of the courtroom by the Border Patrol agents to buses that will transport them to the small private prisons that dot the Arizona desert, where they will serve out their terms. After that they will be herded into unmarked gray buses operated by private contractors and removed"repatriated"- driven the 70 miles to Nogales, Mexico, regardless of whether they have ties there. Or they will be delivered to another point along the border, called a "lateral repatriation," intentionally meant to separate people from their friends and connections to make re-crossing more difficult. The push to expand Operation Streamline suggests otherwise. "We should not be prosecuting innocent people - Streamlining' them- just because we can," says [Margo Cowan]. "Operation Streamline brings shame on the very democracy it purports to protect."