Restore the Night Sky, 2024
West Texas Detention Facility, Sierra Blanca TX
Detainee Capacity 450, Town Population 544
“Detention is everywhere. You just need to know where to look”
At night, there is a line across Dilley, Texas. Imperceptible to the human eye, it is easy to see with the long exposures of a camera. It is the light from the largest detention center in the country housing women and children seeking asylum in the US. The center sits in a gulley, surrounded by mesquite groves. The high-power lights create a distinct line across the entire town.
45,000 people on average are in ICE detention centers across the US each day, mainly housed in 45 private detention centers. These detention centers become the heart of very small rural towns, often in extremely remote locations. They have a huge influence on these rural towns, providing a twisted economic boom, closely tied to government policies, economics and infrastructures.
I have begun an effort to photograph the night pollution at all forty-five private ICE detention centers across the United States. Restore the Night Sky is the ensuing set of photographs that show the impact of the immigration crisis on the rural landscape across the entire United States.