Last summer, Omar Salazar, a young entrepreneur living in Dallas, TX, went to visit his girlfriend, Ella, in Lubbock, up in the Texas Panhandle. Driving Ella to class, maybe distracted by conversation, maybe in a hurry to get her there on time, while exiting the freeway, he crossed a solid white line lane divider. A traffic cop pulled him over for an improper lane change.
Crossing over the white line cost Salazar six months in ICE detention and will most probably result in his being deported back to Mexico. The consequences extend beyond Salazar. Ella, now his wife, was forced to drop out of law school, while a booming U.S. industry is losing a young businessman working hard to put AI to innovative, practical use.
Salazar’s story is one of bad luck and ill timing—ordinary moments colliding with a system of anti-immigrant enforcement unraveling a young man’s promising life and career…