Guatemalans Southern California

Barely an hour into his day's tedious work, Esteban Reyes had sewn buttonholes in the waistbands of 60 pairs of trousers when federal immigration agents stormed the red-brick garment factory south of downtown. As the agents moved swiftly among workers, Reyes nervously protested that he was from El Salvador. Still, the blond, blue-coated agent was skeptical and ordered Reyes' detention.

Barely an hour into his day's tedious work, Esteban Reyes had sewn buttonholes in the waistbands of 60 pairs of trousers when federal immigration agents stormed the red-brick garment factory south of downtown. As the agents moved swiftly among workers, Reyes nervously protested that he was from El Salvador. Still, the blond, blue-coated agent was skeptical and ordered Reyes' detention.

After four of his classmates disappeared during Guatemala's civil war, Luis Gonzalez fled his homeland and sneaked across the border into the United States in 1985. He applied for asylum in 1997 but an immigration judge said Gonzalez failed to prove he personally had been persecuted. Now Gonzalez, a Maywood resident, is facing deportation. Gonzalez, 40, who is married and has three U.S.