“I feel like I’ll never get out of here. I just ask that you don’t forget about us.” 13-year-old Gustavo Santiago, held in an ICE detention center. This is the latest addition to my new art series called “and I quote.”
This quote came from an article a friend shared with me. It was written by Mica Rosenberg, who managed to get inside the detention center in Dilley, Texas. Her article was amazing. It included some of the children’s artwork, images of rainbows, family, hearts, and one showing a stick figure behind barbed wire. The article also included handwritten letters from children as young as 7. Many of the letters talked about the poor conditions in the for-profit prison.
The article got a lot of attention and was even referenced during a Homeland Security Committee hearing. In retaliation for the bad publicity, prisoners said that guards took children’s letters, tore pictures off the walls and confiscated pencils, crayons and drawing paper. ICE denied doing this.
