What is it like to be deported?

El Tiempo narrates the deportation of a Colombian who had lived in Miami for seven years. But it's just a straight chronicle of events, names changed, no analysis, just the one statistic indicating at least 1,742 Colombian deportees last year and nearly 190,000 total deportations (some completed from previous pending cases) to all countries last year in America.

En la tarde, dos agentes lo acompañaron hasta la silla de un avión de Avianca y antes de despegar le entregaron su pasaporte con el sello: 'Deportado'. Llegó al Eldorado y en inmigración del DAS le preguntaron qué había pasado y él contó su historia. Entonces, el agente le puso el sello de ingreso y le dijo: "Bienvenido a su país".

That afternoon, two agents accompanied him to his seat on an Avianca flight, and before take-off, gave him his passport stamped "Deported." He arrived at Eldorado airport and at the immigration counter was asked what had happened. He told his story. Then, the agent stamped his entry and said, "Welcome to your country."

As an experiment in empathy, an interesting story-telling approach. El Tiempo's comment page lit up with approval for finally telling it from the deportee's perspective, and other, similar stories started pouring in. Commenters discuss just how hard it is to get set up here, whether it's worth it, who to avoid (lawyers, mostly). There's an interestingly skewed view of fairness in all this, worth checking out.