U.S. concentration camp info

With so much going on in the news it's easy to lose sight of important issues, but one of the many stories we shouldn't forget is [Trump’s *enormous* expansion of immigrant detentions.](https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2018/06/19/how-trump-s-zero-tolerance-policy-differs-from-the-ways-bush-and-obama-treated-immigrant-families/) It's an absolutely monstrous injustice and it's still being perpetuated every day in the many camps around our country.


Consider that what killed most people in the nazi concentration camps was disease. That is precisely [what is being invited, even encouraged, in the camps on the US border](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/10/us-immigration-detained-children-flu-shots). And we’re already seeing the results:


• [Flu Outbreak Prompts Largest Border Detention Center to Stop Processing Migrants](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/us/flu-outbreak-border-detention-center.html)


• [Notes from the Field: Mumps in Detention Facilities that House Detained Migrants](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6834a4.htm)


• [U.S. immigration authorities fear mumps outbreak in crowded detention facilities](https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/us-immigration-authorities-fear-mumps-outbreak-in-crowded-detention-facilities/2019/06/14/de8baa64-8ee4-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html)


Trump’s own administration has repeatedly found that the conditions at many of these detention facilities are egregiously unacceptable and flagrantly violate the law. Have a look at [this DHS report from June 2019, titled “Concerns about ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Four Detention Facilities”:](https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf) [pdf]


>...we observed immediate risks or **egregious violations of detention standards** at facilities in Adelanto, CA, and Essex County, NJ, including nooses in detainee cells, overly restrictive segregation, **inadequate medical care**, unreported security incidents, and **significant food safety issues**, we issued individual reports to ICE after our visits to these two facilities. **All four facilities had issues with expired food**, which puts detainees at risk for food-borne illnesses. At three facilities, we found that segregation practices violated standards and infringed on detainee rights. Two facilities failed to provide recreation outside detainee housing units. **Bathrooms in two facilities’ detainee housing units were dilapidated and moldy**. At one facility, **detainees were not provided appropriate clothing and hygiene items to ensure they could properly care for themselves**. Lastly, one facility allowed only non-contact visits, despite being able to accommodate in-person visitation. Our observations confirmed concerns identified in detainee grievances, which indicated **unsafe and unhealthy conditions to varying degrees at all of the facilities we visited**.


These trends were borne out again in [a July 2019 report, also created by DHS, titled “Management Alert – DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding and Prolonged Detention of Children and Adults in the Rio Grande Valley](https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-07/OIG-19-51-Jul19_.pdf) [pdf]


>During our visits to five Border Patrol facilities and two ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley,2 we reviewed compliance with CBP’s Transport, Escort, Detention and Search (TEDS) standards, which govern CBP’s interaction with detained individuals,3 and observed **serious overcrowding** and prolonged detention of unaccompanied alien children (UACs),4 families, and single adults that **require immediate attention.**


I invite everyone to open that report and look at the photos for themselves. It is clearly unacceptable.


Some more quotes:


>In addition to holding roughly 30 percent of minor detainees for longer than 72 hours, several Rio Grande Valley facilities struggled to meet other TEDS standards for UACs and families. For example, **children at three of the five Border Patrol facilities we visited had no access to showers,
despite the TEDS standards requiring that “reasonable efforts” be made to provide showers to children** approaching 48 hours in detention.8 At these facilities, **children had limited access to a change of clothes; Border Patrol had few spare clothes and no laundry facilities.**
>...
>In the Border Patrol facilities we visited, we also observed **serious overcrowding** and prolonged detention among adult detainees. TEDS provides that “under no circumstances should the maximum [cell] occupancy rate, as set by the fire marshal, be exceeded.”11 However, at one facility, **some single adults were held in standing room only conditions for a week and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells** (see figures 4 and 5).
>...
>We are concerned that **overcrowding and prolonged detention represent an immediate risk to the health and safety of DHS agents and officers, and to those detained.**
>...
>In these overcrowded conditions, CBP was unable to meet TEDS standards. For example, although TEDS standards require CBP to make a reasonable effort to provide a shower for adults after 72 hours,12 **most single adults had not had a shower in CBP custody despite several being held for as long as a month... Most single adult detainees were wearing the clothes they arrived in days, weeks, and even up to a month prior**.


Bear in mind that **the majority of these detainees have not broken the law**, but rather are going through the legal and proper process seeking asylum, as allowed under US and international law.


And it’s also worth noting that this is illegal. **Whenever the government detains someone, for any purpose, it becomes responsible for the health and safety of the detained person**. This is part of the Constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, and has been upheld in the courts over, and over, and over again. The American Bar Association states about the health needs of prisoners, “[The government running the jail...has a constitutional mandate to provide people booked into these facilities with necessary health care.](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice/publications/criminal_justice_section_archive/crimjust_standards_treatmentprisoners/)”


It is additionally **mandated as law** in the [internal policies of both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice](https://www.ice.gov/mobile/detainees/dhc.htm). On top of that, children in particular, who make up a large portion of the detainees on the border, [are legally required to have additional protections and care, likewise upheld by the courts over, and over, and over again.](https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/flores-settlement-brief-history-and-next-steps) Finally, neglect of the health care of detained persons, especially *en masse*, constitutes a serious violation of [international law](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18382849/), as well.


“Never again” is now. Will you help fight it?


•  •  •  •  •  •  •


If anyone would like to copy this post [here's a pastebin link,](https://pastebin.com/knZ1Dvqt) and if you'd like to see more information like this then check out r/MobilizedMinds