With his head against the floor, Borges asked why he was being arrested, but he received no response. The young Brazilian feared making any movement that could cause further aggression. “We were scared, because they could shoot us or use a Taser. That’s how it works there: If you make any sudden move, they can shoot,” he told Agência Pública.

“On the first day, I thought they had picked me up by mistake. … I didn’t know what kind of situation I was getting into,” he said. Borges only learned 24 hours later, at the Newport police station, that the reason for his arrest was having an expired visa. He’d had a student visa and was applying for a green card.

In the 24 hours at the station, he and his co-workers were crammed into a cell, exhausted from lying on the cold floor, without food, water, showers, or even a toilet, and allowed only a single two-minute phone call. “Mom, I was arrested, but I should be out tomorrow,” was all Salomão Borges could share. At that point, he didn’t have enough information to say more.

From then on, the young Brazilian went through a 51-day ordeal under custody, passing through minimum to maximum-security prisons and an immigrant detention center in Port Isabel where, according to him, food and water were rationed and there was never a word on when he might be reunited with his family.

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