Detention By Design

'They looked at the United States as a land of freedom. They were going to come and be free - and what they found was not that.' WLRN News’ podcast Detention By Design explores how the waves of refugees that started coming to South Florida 50 years ago shaped the current immigration and detention system in the U.S. Reporter Danny Rivero joins Sundial Now to discuss this project.

'They looked at the United States as a land of freedom. They were going to come and be free - and what they found was not that.' WLRN News’ podcast Detention By Design explores how the waves of refugees that started coming to South Florida 50 years ago shaped the current immigration and detention system in the U.S. Reporter Danny Rivero joins Sundial Now to discuss this project.

Fifty years ago, Haitian refugees fleeing a brutal dictatorship started to land on the shores of Florida. These arrival by boats, and later those from Cuba, sparked a wholesale change of how the immigration system works in the U.S. — the beginning of the modern era of mass immigration detention. The effects are still felt today, as record numbers seek the Land of the Free and end up in detention.