If you've ever been to a Social Security office, an office for public assistance, the DMV, or any big city criminal or family court, you know these places are not designed for comfort or convenience. For the most part, these are drab, boring, uninspiring spaces with dull, disinterested staffs who detest their jobs almost as much as the people they serve. Employees in these types of government spaces are generally overworked, underpaid and feel unappreciated. This is why public officials, news reporters, rights groups and concerned citizens aren't being allowed to inspect and report on the U.S'. immigration detention centers. If you think the DMV sucks, the Trump administration can never allow the world to see what's really going on behind the closed doors of these facilities. Therefore, we have no choice but to use our imaginations.
If the pictures of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants aka "prisoners" being locked up in cage-like fencing, kept warm on cold concrete floors with mylar blankets and monitored by armed guards 24/7 as they await food, water, and bathroom breaks is the best of conditions, one can only wonder what the real day to day experience must be like for guards and their prisoners alike. How often are the "prisoners" fed? What and how much are they given to eat? How often are they allowed to shower? Who cleans up after them? How are the unruly prisoners dealt with? How are complaints handled? Who handles the prisoner's complaints? With thousands to be managed and a shortage of staff, one would naturally want to know if all those charged with managing this unique population have been properly trained. If not, reports of widespread abuse should be expected soon.
Those responsible for keeping children locked up (with or without their parents) should be prepared for incessant crying, acting out, fighting staff and others, as well as suicide and escape attempts. This is a complicated and demanding job for the best-trained professionals in the fields of fear and stress management and child psychology and development. So, to be placed in the custody of inexperienced jailers insensitive to the special needs and circumstances facing these "prisoners" can lead to threats of violence, excessive force, and other inappropriate behaviors. Let's face it, we're talking about children and young teens, many of which are stranded in this country without anyone to stand up for them, or even claim them. These are some of the most venerable people in the world. When they scream, few will hear them. And those who do, may not care.
For all we know, a humanitarian crisis not seen since the Japanese internment camps could be developing behind a smokescreen of demonization and vilification. Donald Trump has tagged migrants from Central America as rapist, drug dealers, gang members, and murders. According to the administration and Fox News propagandists, the children are no more than props for adults to use to support a sob story at the border. The Trump narrative says these people don't want asylum, they want to come to America to commit crimes. And if that message can gain traction, fewer Americans will give a damn about what's really happening to the people being hidden from view. Trump supporters will say, "those people" should be locked up until they're deported back to where they came from. They don't need a lawyer, a judge or a hearing. they just need a ticket home. And besides, who cares what happens to criminals while in U.S. custody? They were warned. End of story? Not so fast.
While access to these detention centers has been kept to a minimum, with no cameras or recording devices allowed, some lawmakers have been given enough of a glimpse to understand how bad things could get without proper oversight. And since HHS and DHS are hellbent on keeping the care custody and control of migrant detainees on the down-low, California Rep. Barbara Lee is asking the United Nations to investigate the impact of families being separated at the border. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres Lee wrote, “I urge you to send experts from relevant U.N. agencies to observe conditions in both Department of Homeland Security and Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities both at the border and throughout the more than 17 states around the country that are now housing children who have been separated from their families.”
Bottom line: Whenever elected officials, reporters, and human rights organizations are barred from unfettered access to U.S. government-run facilities and are forced to smuggle photos out of them, it should raise red flags, eyebrows and lots of questions. It should raise concerns that something is going on that the average citizen would not approve of. And the abuse of children would certainly qualify. So, the longer the Trump administration keeps operating these facilities in secret, the more people will raise their voices in protest. Something is not right and we the people must keep raising this issue until we find out what's really going on behind the government's closed doors. Podcast below.
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