Migrant Families on ICE
150 More Photos: Inside Border Patrol’s Detention Centers: posted by Russ Kick @ AltGov2 @thememoryhole2
In 2016, a court unsealed photos & video frames from inside Border Patrol’s holding facilities for immigrants. The public had never seen the inside of these places before. Media outlets ran only a few images, so I posted all 190. The facilities are purposely kept freezing cold. Immigrants call them las hieleras (“iceboxes,” “coolers,” or “refrigerators”). The silver things you see here are actually human beings wrapped in mylar sheets.
These are images of immigrant abuse in Border Patrol detention centers during the Trump?–No, the Obama administration. So says the journalist who posted them. The images apparently come from a 2016 court case in which the judge unsealed videos and photos of deplorable conditions. Dates on the photos say ‘2015.’
So how are things now, under Trump? Well, check out this govt report from DECEMBER 2017. The Dept of Homeland Security did a surprise inspection of 5 ICE detention facilities for immigrants. They found rotten food, mold, delayed medical treatment, and intimidation of immigrants. The report is here: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2017-12/OIG-18-32-Dec17.pdf
>>> In an ongoing class-action lawsuit over Custom and Border Protection’s detention facilities, a judge has released a second batch of images, giving the public the first glimpse inside these holding cells in use. This time, not only are there photos of the Southern Arizona facilities being inspected, we have video stills showing the holding areas filled with men, women, and children. They are sometimes wrapped in silver Mylar sheets because the crowded, filthy facilities are often kept extremely cold, earning them the nickname las hieleras (“iceboxes,” “coolers,” or “refrigerators”).
“The holding cells were designed to be used for temporary holding — a period of hours. The American Immigration Council analyzed Border Patrol data and concluded that from September 2014 to August 2015, two-thirds of immigrants detained in Border Patrol facilities in the Southwest were held for more than 24 hours, and tens of thousands of people were held for more than three days.”
Also released by the judge: hundreds of facility-inspection forms filled out by Border Patrol: Group 1 \ Group 2
Read more about the lawsuit and see the first batch of photos here.
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