Inhumanity has no bottom these days. When the Trump administration should be taking humane steps to prevent the deaths of migrant children in U.S. custody, Homeland Security is reportedly asking the Department of Defense to erect six prison camps along the southern border to detain as many as 7,500 migrants.
“A Department of Defense spokesperson confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security made the request, and a Defense official said acting Secretary Patrick Shanahan is expected to sign the request,” NBC News reports. “The tents will probably not be on military bases, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement—not the military—will be responsible for migrant detention and custodial support.”
Sure, the humane folks from ICE—the same ones who not that long ago had to be shamed into releasing over a dozen babies from a migrant family jail in Texas and last year in California failed a surprise inspection when nooses were found hanging in a private detention facility—can totally be trusted here. “The camps,” which will reportedly be in Arizona and Texas, “will be surrounded by a chain link fence topped by barbed wire, according to one official familiar with the request,” CNN reported.
It must be reported over and over again that there are alternatives to jailing people in this manner. The Obama-era Family Case Management Program saw asylum-seekers connected with social workers who helped guide them through things such as court dates and housing. It wasn’t just humane and cheap; it was also effective: “99 percent of the program’s participants ‘successfully attended their court appearances and ICE check-ins.’” The Trump administration killed this program in early 2017.