On our ChangeHub blog, we frequently post news articles and opportunities related to human rights: usually, those of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and members of the LGBT community. However, we’ve rarely posted about a pressing issue coming into particular political light as of late: immigration. Check out this primary source piece from Politico on how one man had everything stripped from him – his family, his job, and his home – when he was deported for an event that took place 19 years ago:

I often think about Friday dinners with my family. Every Friday, no matter what, my wife and I took our two children out to eat; it was a ritual we looked forward to all week. We would sometimes try new restaurants, but my children’s favorite was the Olive Garden. My daughter loved to order Shirley Temples and my son always wanted whatever I was having, so I’d order two of the same meal for us.

Those memories feel a world away from where I’m living now, in Trelawny, on Jamaica’s north coast. I’m trying to get a start as a pig farmer, but it’s much harder than I expected. It costs about $200 a week to feed the pigs, and there’s a water shortage so I have to walk about a mile each way to get river water for them. My family in the United States sent me $1,500 to get the business started but now I fear I may lose it all.

Full piece here. Howard Dean Bailey is represented by the Immigrant Defense Project and can be reached through Alisa Wellek at bringhowardhome@immigrantdefenseproject.org.