Home is the mouth of a shark
March 14, 2017 1:35 PM   Subscribe

When migrants are apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection their personal items are confiscated. A janitor found mountains of these items in the trash. Being a photographer, he did the only thing he could: he took pictures.
posted by Cobalt (25 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow. This really made me emotional.
posted by all about eevee at 1:58 PM on March 14, 2017


These are beautiful (and, etc).
posted by Sebmojo at 1:58 PM on March 14, 2017


Not to trivialize or demean either thing, but it's like the exhibit full of victims' shoes at the Holocaust Memorial.
posted by briank at 1:59 PM on March 14, 2017 [41 favorites]


Briank: that was exactly my thought as well.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:59 PM on March 14, 2017


Tom Kiefer should be remember by history as a hero.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


Previously.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:18 PM on March 14, 2017 [2 favorites]


The bit where his former co-workers are furious that he "stole" what was going to the landfill; no, they weren't mad about the trash. They were mad because his exhibit humanizes the people they work so hard to dehumanize and disappear. And that makes them wonder, for a second, if what they are doing is evil, and that's not something they can stand.
posted by emjaybee at 2:20 PM on March 14, 2017 [69 favorites]


the exhibit full of victims' shoes at the Holocaust Memorial

For some reason it was the smell of all that old leather that did me in.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:35 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


We are really such shitty people who don't deserve our country.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 2:54 PM on March 14, 2017 [9 favorites]


including cell phones and wallets, many still containing I.D.s, prepaid debit cards, and cash—were ending up in the trash

How can confiscating these items possibly be legal? What law allows customs officers to take ID and cash from travellers and discard them?
posted by Segundus at 3:04 PM on March 14, 2017 [16 favorites]


How can confiscating these items possibly be legal?

Because American citizens have allowed it to become so.
posted by mhoye at 3:08 PM on March 14, 2017 [12 favorites]


1970s Antihero: Thanks, I missed that. That's a much better link!
posted by Cobalt at 3:08 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


You cannot steal what has been discarded in the trash. The cops love to cite this very principle when they conduct warrantless (but legal) searches of your trash.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:13 PM on March 14, 2017 [12 favorites]


...are we the baddies?
posted by ckape at 3:15 PM on March 14, 2017 [29 favorites]


Those are beautiful. The rosaries, in particular, were affecting.
posted by AgentRocket at 3:30 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


So, what's the guess on how much of those "monetary instruments" wind up in someone's pocket rather than in the trash?
posted by nubs at 3:43 PM on March 14, 2017 [7 favorites]


That is excellent work, and viewing it made me so goddam sad for humanity and this country.

.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:50 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


it's like the exhibit full of victims' shoes at the Holocaust Memorial.

The exact same thought occurred to me. My next thought was: WAIT, this is not at all like the exhibits full of victims' shoes at Auschwitz (or other Holocaust memorials), because these photographs are of objects seized from people being detained by the state for the purpose of deportation to their countries of origin, NOT for the purpose of being murdered. And regardless of how one feels about current U.S. policies, there is a big difference between those two things: the violence of deportation, and the violence of the gas chamber. My subsequent reaction was to feel manipulated by the images and deeply uncomfortable with the false equivalence they seem to draw. But I can't assume, of course, that the photographer intended the resemblance.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 4:37 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


Amazing concept and photography.
posted by SarahElizaP at 4:38 PM on March 14, 2017


NOT for the purpose of being murdered.

Not specifically by our state, no.

But. There is a lot of political unrest & turmoil in the countries these people are attempting to escape from, especially Honduras. Returning refugees to their countries of origin can be a de facto death sentence.

If we are callously throwing their wallets in the trash, I'm not so sure we're giving them a proper hearing for life-saving refugee status, either.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:08 PM on March 14, 2017 [16 favorites]


I think we can draw not an equivalence but a line from one position to the other. Dehumanising people by discarding their personal possessions and identifying documentation is a necessary -- though not sufficient -- step on the way to murder camps.

And, just as with the Holocaust museum articles, the point here is to remind people that seemingly abstract policy discussions have a very real impact on very real people.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:10 PM on March 14, 2017 [21 favorites]


What law allows customs officers to take ID and cash from travellers and discard them?

Yes. Discarded, I am certain.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:15 PM on March 14, 2017


But. There is a lot of political unrest & turmoil in the countries these people are attempting to escape from, especially Honduras. Returning refugees to their countries of origin can be a de facto death sentence.

This. Refoulement of refugees is no better than a death sentence - and how well do you think they're going to fare with no money and no ID?

I'm personally having a hard time processing past the rosaries. Rosaries. They aren't even allowed that much comfort before being turned away.
posted by Jilder at 9:01 PM on March 14, 2017 [3 favorites]


Throwing away their rosaries is where I lost it.
posted by zippy at 9:45 PM on March 14, 2017 [5 favorites]


Oh Jesus that was gutting. For whatever reason, it was the blankets that killed me, though, bless him, the last shot did wring a wry smile from me.
posted by eclectist at 8:23 AM on March 15, 2017


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