What a Tough-Love Sheriff Left Behind

Joe Arpaio’s jail deports a dead man walking, and a Mexican family grieves.


Long before Arizona passed its anti-immigrant law, Sheriff Joe Arpaio was taking border enforcement into his own hands—directing his deputies to check the immigration status of people they encountered in anything from a routine traffic stop to simply walking down the street. This photo essay documents one Mexican family’s grief over the death of their son, David de la Fuente, who was jailed for driving without a license and developed pneumonia while behind bars. His family says he received no treatment, and died shortly after he was released to federal authorities and deported back to Mexico. You can read the full story here.

This photo essay was supported by the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute.

The local cemetery in Colonia Emilio Carranza features countless shrines to the Virgin of Guadalupe.
 

David de la Fuente’s family home, which doubles as a local corner store.
 

David de la Fuente’s humble, hand-painted grave marker is adorned with a simple iron cross.
 

De la Fuente’s cousin, Norberto Alvarado Santana, fights tears and stares out into the vast horizon near his cousin’s grave.
 

De la Fuente’s mother, Hermelinda, spends most of her days on the bed in her small room since her son passed away.
 

Monserrato “Monse” Martínez saw her uncle, David de la Fuente, just once after he was deported; he died a few days later.
 

De la Fuente’s half-sister, Sara Almanza, hand-washes the family’s clothes in the yard.
 

De la Fuente’s sister, Almarossa, contemplates a picture of her brother taken before he died.
 

Because so many men head north for work, women take on additional labor. De la Fuente’s cousin and niece are joined by a family friend on their way to sell beans to local stores.

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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