i was about 4 years old when i was brought over here to america. >> he grew up as an american kid, living the american dream. but after a few teenage mistakes, arrested, detained. >> i've been incarcerated about 10 months now. >> then deported. >> how does it keep americans safe by deporting a nonviolent teenage tore a country he's never lived in? >> we still have to follow the rule of law. >> lost in a land he's never known. >> our family isn't the same without him. so it has changed a lot. >> and worlds apart from his family. >> told me, i'm thinking about you.

i'm thinking about you. >> "deporting brandon" will be right back. for a fast-acting rush of relief like you've never tasted in... ♪ honey lemon ahh woo vicks vapocool drops now in honey lemon chill unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference.

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in small-town georgia, brandon salinas had an all-american childhood. >> being a boy scout. listening to gospel music. playing ultimate frisbee with my friends. >> what kind of a boy was he? >> nickelodeon, that was his favorite. >> reporter: yvonne raised her four kids as a single mom. his siblings all u.s. citizens. but brandon was her only child born in mexico. >> i was about 4 years old when i was brought over here to america.

>> i remember i was too short to walk over the rio grande. they put me on their shoulders because the water was too high. >> reporter: yvonne worked hard in construction. her kids could walk to the local school, but all it took was a teenage mistake to upend the life she had built. last year at 17, brandon was caught with marijuana. along with some friends. they were never charged. but unlike them, brandon is undocumented. not only was he arrested, he got sent to an i.c.e. detention center to face deportation. >> ile regret it each and every day. >> reporter: for years we've

charted the human toll of our nation's crackdown on immigration. families stranded at the border. children separated from parents. and now a mother reeling from her son's deportation, forced away from the only home he'd ever known. >> i felt like, you know, if i could have another opportunity just to do things right, i will. >> reporter: dalton, georgia, dubbed the carpet capital of the world. population roughly 30,000, nearly half latino. like so many, yvonne was lured here by the promise of a good factory job off the books. brandon would also toil in one of those carpet mills. at 16, he was obsessed with buying a car, and he worked two jobs to earn it. >> how much did you save up to buy the car? >> $10,000. >> reporter: but a shadow hangs low over this town.

a decades-old policy that allows local law enforcement to work with immigration officers. >> this trend of mass deportation has deep roots. >> we will expand and revitalize the popular 287-g partnerships -- >> places like dalton, georgia, have these robust agreements between local law enforcements and i.c.e. agents where a vehicle stop can get turned into you're in i.c.e. custody awaiting removal proceedings. >> reporter: in 2019 alone, more than 160,000 people have been detained across the u.s. under 287-g. the majority picked up on minor offenses. since 2014, nearly 50,000 deported. >> right now we're in stewart detention facility. i've been here a couple days.

i've been incarcerated about 10 months now. my friends, most of them, they knew i was born in mexico. me growing up, i realized i was different from everybody else. >> i know i went through this when my boys were such sweet boys, suddenly they turned into teenagers. what was that like for you, watching him go from boy to manhood? >> it was very hard. it was very hard. because he wouldn't listen to me. >> did you know he was smoking marijuana? >> yeah. in high school.

>> i was getting out of work probably around 8:00. went out with some friends. had some marijuana on me. i remember that we were in my car. and my friend was driving. there was a sheriff. he turned on his lights. that's when my friend, he sped off. he got nervous. he sped off in my car. >> reporter: even though his friend was driving, all four were arrested and later released. days after brandon's 18th birthday, the police came back.

>> reporter: brandon was arrested and charged with marijuana possession and lying to police about his age and the spelling of his name. he spent five months in county jail. and then he was handed over to i.c.e. >> so this is his bed. >> oh, that's him? what grade? oh, this is the cap and gown. >> for his graduation. >> what do you think when you see this gown? >> i'm very sad. he waited for that day. >> he missed it. >> yeah. >> when he was in jail, and later when he was in detention, and he would call you, i know that he would always act very tough like he's a man. >> uh-huh. >> but i'm sure he was a scared

little boy, too. >> uh-huh. >> i can't imagine. >> reporter: the pain of

families tor apart is a trauma that permeates this little town. his childhood friend andris knows this well, their lives separated only by a piece of paper. >> do you think people here who are undocumented are afraid? >> yeah, they are scared of the cops. they don't want to drive a car, they don't want to do nothing like that. >> one wrong move? >> yeah, one wrong move and who knows, you might be going to a whole new country. here's my mom. my mom also got deported while she was driving. >> you mean she got picked up because she was driving without a license? >> yes. >> what was that like for you and your family? >> that was hard, especially on me, because i'm such a mama's boy, such a mama's boy. i can't even talk about it without crying. it was really hard on me for sure. i don't know, it was just hard on me, really is. >> reporter: when we reached out to the sheriff's office that first arrested brandon, they

directed us to i.c.e. in atlanta. >> everyone here in the united states who's not a u.s. citizen or lawful permanent resident is subject to removal. >> but i.c.e. also has discretion to not deport. >> and we use that on a regular basis, but those kind of cases, you're not hearing about. >> how does it keep americans safe by deporting a nonviolent teenager to a country he's never lived in, really? >> because we still have to follow the rule of law, that's why. >> does that make americans safer? >> yes, because at the end of the day, if you don't follow the rule of law, you're going to have chaos. >> but what if a person has no gang history, there's no violent crime, and they came as a toddler? i mean, aren't you punishing someone for the sins of the father? >> we look at those on a case-by-case basis. >> reporter: but brandon's case was a long shot. he was facing one of the strictest judges in the south.

after nearly a year behind bars, brandon says he'd lost hope. >> the exact same day he was deported, i had a meeting scheduled with him. >> reporter: fernando chavez was brandon's attorney, but it was too late. he'd waived his right to appeal and signed his own deportation order. >> he said it himself, i don't know, what am i supposed to appeal? asylum? i've been here my whole life, how does asylum work for me? the system had just >> they dropped me off in texas close to the border and told me to walk to mexico. >> reporter: he walked to a shelter with $23 in his pocket and the few meager belongings from detention. it would take days for his mom to frantically scrape together enough money for a plane ticket. >> my home is my house with my

family. christmases, fourth of julys. i had so many experiences. >> reporter: in the dead of night, brandon finally makes it to the city of torreone where he's about to see his grandfather for the first time since he was a baby. >> hola.

when we come back, brandon wakes up in a foreign land. far from anything or anyone he's ever known. ...so are we. prudential helps 25 million people with their financial needs. with over 90 years' of investment experience, our thousands of financial professionals can help. go to prudential.com or talk to an advisor. what's inside airborne? a blast of immune support and the confidence to take on the day. that's why airborne is the only #1 pharmacist recommended immune support brand. airborne. your daily dose of confidence.

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it's brandon's first morning in a country he has no memory of. >> i just think a lot about my family. as soon as i feel more comfortable, i'm going to be able to get more sleep. >> reporter: he's now in a new home with no running water, where the only sense of privacy is a draped curtain. >> i just have to start from zero again, try to work myself up. >> it's a changing, new

experience for me, you know. i'm just trying to be as comfortable as i can. >> can you show me your room? >> yeah. my room is this way. >> this is grandma's house. what was it like to fall asleep in here? that first night? >> took a long time to fall asleep. just because i wasn't used to where i was sleeping at. wish i could change some bad decisions i made. but i can't. i can only try to improve myself, better myself for the future. >> do you dwell on it? do you beat yourself up on it? >> i do. i do regret it each and every day.

>> brandon in no way was a danger to his community. i say that with the utmost confidence and trust in him. his life was turned upside down. not only his. his family's. >> how often does brandon come to your mind?

>> all day, all night. he's not happy. he's missing his house, his family, his brother, his sister. he told me, i'm thinking about you, mom. i think about you. >> sometimes i usually just tend to, like, talk with myself, just to pretend as if it were brandon. sometimes i actually miss him that much. i usually make up conversations as if i was him. it's something i do sometimes. >> reporter: back in mexico with his cousin as his guide, brandon is desperately trying to find his footing. he's banned from even visiting the u.s. for ten years, and it could take decades to be considered for permanent

residency. >> when you're young, i guess you make reckless decisions. you don't think about the consequence of your actions. that's where i just messed up. i could have really took advantage of some of the opportunities i had. ht. every night. i live alone, but i still do it every night. right after dinner. definitely after meatloaf. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know an energy star certified dishwasher... ...uses less than four gallons per cycle. while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. that means even small loads can save water. so why not do it? run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum. the surprising way to save water.

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♪ monday, "nightline" is on the campaign trail. i'll be in the battleground state of michigan, byron pitts in crucial north carolina. that's it for "nightline."