Imani Altemus-Williams and Betsy Catlin

“Presente.” “Presente.” One by one, as their names are called by an officer standing in the front of a courtroom in Tucson, Arizona, people with chained feet and hands stand and respond, “Presente.” They are migrants who have been caught and detained while crossing the border without documents, and they’re being processed through the Department of Homeland Security’s recent innovation, “Operation Streamline” — a mass-trial procedure that can not only result in detention or deportation but time served in prison for the criminal charge of “entry without inspection.” Watching these brown people stand and say “presente” in front of a white, male judge is especially powerful if we consider the history that has led to the criminalization of migrants crossing the border.More