Deported

Rachel Woolf’s project Deported: An American Division began in late July 2017 when she met Lourdes Salazar Bautista days before her deportation hearing in Detroit. Bautista had been living in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the past 20 years along with her children Pamela, Bryan, and Lourdes who were all born in the United States. Though the family was hopeful that Bautista would be granted permission to stay in the U.S., it was determined at her hearing that she would be deported. Bautista, along with her two younger children, left for Mexico soon after the hearing in August 2017.

“Sometimes I can’t find the adequate words to explain to my kids that there’s no reason why they have to pay for their parents, being that they are citizens and they have the right to be in [the U.S.],” Bautista said. “They want to return to their schools with the lives they had in the U.S., since it is what they know.”

“Lourdes and her family welcomed me into their lives during an unimaginably difficult time. I documented the complexities of their story to humanize those affected by deportation and immigration practices. Countless families are in the same situation, experiencing this harsh reality,” said Woolf of her experience with the Quintana-Salazar family. Through Woolf’s focus on Lourdes Salazar Bautista and her children, we can better understand the nuance of deportation and the impact it has on families and their communities. Woolf is continuing to update her story on the Quintana-Salazar family and provide an intimate glimpse into what life after deportation is like for families who are forcibly removed from the United States and sent to countries that are at once strange and familiar. As Woolf said, this situation is not unique to the Quintana-Salazar family, and this exhibit offers a look into the personal impacts of the U.S. immigration system and process. 

Rachel continued her initial project documenting the Quintana-Salazar family through a second iteration of this work titled, Deported: A Family Divided.