The not guilty verdict by a San Francisco jury Nov. 30, 2017, in the case of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the undocumented homeless Mexican immigrant accused of murdering Kate Steinle, has once again ignited the national discourse about immigration in our country. Of course, Zarate has come to be, for many, the symbol of illegal immigration.

We recently returned from a weeklong tour of duty at the nation’s largest immigration detention center for women and children in Dilley,Texas. Working under the auspices of the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project, we spent a week as volunteers helping to prepare the women to meet/speak with an immigration judge as part of what is called a credible fear hearing.This hearing is the first step in the asylum process. In light of the outcry provoked by the acquittal of Zarate and our recent experiences in Dilley, it feels like an appropriate moment to offer another portrait of the population that has drawn such ire from a segment of our nation’s population.