Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

I talk to Mejia in the courthouse, behind Plexiglass. I ask her about the judge’s argument, that she’d disappear if let out of detention? “Where would I go?” she says. “I have children, grandchildren here. I’ll try to win my case.”

And what if she’s deported to El Salvador, after 30 years away? Mejia says she’s afraid to go back. It’s only a place of distant, ugly memories.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

The ruling is in. Mejia will remain in detention. Judge Murry states she’s a flight risk and a danger to society.

Mejia’s lawyer, Rosy Cho, is fighting back—seeking asylum for Mejia based on the sexual abuse she experienced in El Salvador.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

She's shown herself to be quite functional in the United States with regards to raising her children, engaging in childcare that was necessary for her children to work as well.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

In court, Bertha Mejia tells her story in Spanish. Judge Anthony S. Murry listens through an interpreter.

Mejia says she left El Salvador in 1981 because of war, poverty and sexual abuse. In California, she’s raised a family and worked as a cook and housecleaner.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

I think if the American public knew really what was going on and how their taxpayer dollars were spent—and also that we are spending our energy detaining 53-year-old women with no history of violent crimes, I think a lot of minds would be changed and I think reform what happened more quickly.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

Meija's family is gathered at the courtroom to support her: siblings, her daughters, her mom, grandkids.

Today on our Tumblr, the editor of The World’s Global Nation coverage Monica Campbell recreates her experience in “A Day in Immigration Court."

Since being detained in 2011, Mejia has fought to remain in the US… from a jail hours away used by officials to hold immigrants.

Today, Mejia will see a judge for the first time. There’s hope he’ll let her fight deportation from outside a cell and rejoin the family.

“She’s the caretaker for Pablo, my sister’s son, and for my daughter, Jasmine, and so she would always taken them to school, pick them up from school. So they spent a lot of time with her," says her daughter, Vanessa Madrigal.

Her case also isn’t rare. Mejia is part of a ballooning population of over 400,000 detained immigrants as enforcement tightens. Most are like Mejia: people who’ve lived in the US undocumented for years—but aren’t violent criminals. Critics say there are cheaper, more humane ways to treat these immigrants while their cases are pending.

As Congress considers immigration reform, there are questions about the rising number of undocumented immigrants held in detention centers. Critics say we should consider alternatives, especially for immigrants who haven’t committed violent crimes. People like Bertha Mejia, a grandmother from El Salvador in detention in California.