Joseph Nevins

Roberto Martinez: The Struggle to Overcome the U.S.-Mexico Divide

Roberto Martinez

At 6:30 a.m. on May 20, agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and the Transportation Safety Administration descended on a trolley station near downtown San Diego. After questioning commuters about their U.S. residency status—allegedly because they were behaving suspiciously—agents detained 21 individuals, three of whom were teenagers on their way to their high school. Later that day, having made the determination that the three minors were in the United States “illegally,” the Border Patrol deported them to Mexico, thus dividing them from their parents and siblings living in San Diego.