Democratic members of Congress toured an immigrant detention facility on Monday, and the report from their trip is truly horrifying. Tweet after tweet, those that went on the tour exposed the inhumane conditions under which migrants are being held. They also discussed the violent and careless atmosphere that surrounded the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
“This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after leaving the first detention center.
Ocasio-Cortez detailed some of the horrific conditions inside the detention centers. One woman spoke to her about how their sink had broken and CBP officers had told them to drink out of the toilet. Others described the “psychological warfare” that occurred, with CBP officers waking women up at odd hours and calling them whores, among other atrocities.
Ocasio-Cortez also tweeted a picture of a small shampoo packet that detainees were given to wash their entire bodies. She also recounted how some women’s hair was falling out, and that some of them hadn’t been given the opportunity to shower in 15 days.
These absolutely appalling discoveries from inside the detention centers come after it had been reported that children in some facilities had been denied soap and toothpaste.
It’s so frustrating that this news has not made more of an impact. Why is this not getting talked about more? This should be the center of outrage for every single American. It should be blowing up social media and mainstream news coverage. The United States of America is detaining immigrants who haven’t even committed a crime. These people have done nothing wrong, they are simply seeking asylum in our country, and yet they’re being treated worse than actual prisoners in the U.S.
Other atrocities involving CBP officers surfaced on Monday, such as the 9,500 member Facebook group of officers, where crude and lewd posts are frequently made. Photoshopped pictures of President Trump raping Ocasio-Cortez and images mocking migrants were just some of the demeaning, horrific and appalling posts that were found in the Facebook group.
As reports like these have been coming out for the past couple of weeks, my heart breaks over and over again for these innocent people, whose lives have been so miserable that they have risked their lives to seek a better opportunity here in America.
I can’t find the right words to express just how disgusted I am with this situation. The fact that the Trump administration hasn’t even denounced these conditions should alarm every American.
This should be one of the issues at the forefront of the 2020 presidential primaries and general election. Democrats should continue to expose the toxicity and inhumanity of the Trump administration. This situation can not fall into the shadows, we need to keep talking about it until something is done to fix it. These immigrants will not be forgotten.
There also needs to be major reforms to the entirety of CBP. Those currently working for the department are clearly indifferent to the lives of human beings. Every single officer involved in the Facebook group should immediately be fired and the agency needs to actively work towards an inclusive and humane atmosphere.
History will not look kindly upon the Trump administration. Future generations will look upon our current immigration policies as a smear in American history. We must keep fighting for a brighter, more passionate future.
