But I’m not really big on just throwing up links (though if I was, damn would I be more productive). Mostly, I just can’t shut up, and often end up saying way more than I originally intended. Like with this comment!

I was thinking, “Why not just throw up a link to the article?”

Because, you know, I see that a lot on this site.

But I forgot that just because I see something a lot on this site doesn’t mean I’ve ever seen it from any one blogger on this site.

Now I see that you’re like me. :-) You quote and format and such.

Gotcha.

And it’s so difficult for me to imagine any political will gathering around this issue, because so many Americans consider the lives of immigrants, especially undocumented ones, to be completely disposable.

Not only no political will…but a great deal of antipathy towards anything seen as helping immigrants as they do not want to encourage the dangers of “excessive immigration” and the drain they will pose on jobs, social services, and the very “American way of life”.*

In the eyes of most “native Americans”, immigration and immigrants are easy scapegoats for a wide variety of our social and economic problems since at least the 1790s….forgetting the fact we were all immigrants to the US.

* Total BS. If anything, most immigrants and their children tended to be far more hardworking and resourceful contributors to US society than many of the native-born American counterparts….especially those at the higher end of the socio-economic ladder. In fact, a substantial chunk of American scientific, technological, and social progress from the early 20th century onwards would not have been possible without the substantial contributions of immigrants from all over the world.

While many aliens who get picked up are decent folk (admittedly making my job difficult) we do deal with a great number of aggravated felons and repeat offenders that I am happy to deport. Regardless of the crime, all of our detainees get access to phones and a direct connection to their native consulate. We do our best to ensure a translator is available if one of our agents can’t speak their language. Families are kept together and men are separated from women. No one under the age of 14 is fingerprinted or photographed. Free legal resources are provided to each alien regardless of income. Visiting hours from friends and family are generous.

As to the above listed concerns, it is rare for a detainee to be held longer than a week. Never indifferently unless serving in a state or federal prison for criminal conviction not related to immigration. Sometimes trials last longer than expected due to complicated issues, but that is the nature of the judicial system. Holding facilities are not explicitly advertised for security reasons but every detention center is listed at the ICE homepage.

It looks like there’s not an existing letter-writing campaign about this. I’m trying to identify who the most useful recipients of such a campaign would be. People with the power to do something about it, obviously. I don’t know if Chertoff or Myers themselves would be a good choice, since clearly they are the problem here. Probably members of the House Judiciary Committee. Is there a particular Senate committee that was doing the questioning (and might call them back on the carpet at any point)?

And second Dianne — if you have needed skills, volunteer.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Are PHR volunteers authorized to provide health care services, or are you only able to document preexisting conditions?

1. Both locations I’ve been to have been basically warehouses in blocks of warehouses. They are not clearly marked as ICE facilities or even as having people inside them. They look like large, windowless warehouses, just like all the others. This frightens me on several levels. First, there are people living in these places for years, often with no access to sunlight or the outdoors at all. Second, simply that if I did not know what they were, I would pass them by thinking them at all or realizing what was going on there. So who knows what else is going on? There could be overt death camps in the suburbs for all I know. Maybe there are. (Then on the personal level, I never go into one of these places without a slight fear that they’ll never let me out again. If they declared that I was a traitor for talking to the inmates and refused to let me out, what could I do? Cowardly of me to worry about that, I know, but I can’t get the fear to go away either.)

2. I’ve interviewed only a small number of detainees (most asylum seekers are “paroled” and live in the community), but of those I have seen, all, without exception, have had neglected medical problems ranging from a minor yeast infection (in a woman with FGM…maybe not so minor) to obvious major depression and probable hypothyroidism. I’ve alerted everyone I could think of to the problems, but from the lack of surprise or even response, I doubt that I told anyone anything they didn’t already know. Or would act on.

3. The guards at the detention centers tend to be either jerks with or without sadistic tendencies or decent people who look scared and overwhelmed at what’s going on. I worry that the employees are going to get PTSD from being stuck with so much suffering but rarely having the authority or ability to do anything about it.

Just my little rant to add to the bigger picture.

As far as things to do about it, if anyone out there is in health care or law, PHR and similar organizations always need volunteers. All the people I’ve examined have eventually gotten out and most have been granted asylum. It’s not a system changing thing to do and therefore obviously isn’t adequate, but it’s something that one can do to help at least a few individuals immediately while trying to solve the overall problem.