Flaylo
Handsome Devil
Immigration Detention Centers Are Like Campus 'Holiday,' House Republicans Say
Contards and human rights, sure they're for it, they think wateboarding isn't against human rights even though scared ass Hannity refused to be waterboarded.
Smith "criticizes these detention standards as 'hospitality guidelines,'" Lofgren said during the hearing. "I didn't think that it's a 'hospitality guideline' to prevent rape of detainees, women who have done nothing wrong, to prevent death of detainees."
But Republicans said the reports of abuse were mostly meaningless. Gallegly told Lofgren that her examples of suffering were anecdotes, and shared his own about an immigrant who was released from detention and then killed by citizens. Later, King said that based on his calculations, a person in detention would be less likely to die than someone in the general population. He shrugged off a witness's point that in the general population, many deaths are due to old age.
The hearing hashed out familiar arguments on immigration changes, which are at a legislative standstill because of the divided Congress. House Republicans have used hearings to accuse the Obama administration of trying to avoid enforcement of immigration laws.
Gallegly and Smith on Wednesday also argued detention was too expensive and would become more so if immigrants were held in less jail-like facilities. Smith pointed to cuts in funding for physical education classes in schools, while detainees play soccer, volleyball or basketball.
He added that one recently-opened facility cost "over $30 million taxpayer dollars" -- a figure that actually refers to the cost to Geo Group, the private company that built it. None of the three Republican congressman said they would support alternatives to detention that would cut costs, such as ankle bracelet monitoring.
To those who have experienced detention, the idea that centers are too nice is laughable. Nazry Mustakim, a legal resident who was detained for 10 months and released in February, said he slept in a room with 100 beds, waiting days for medical attention, eating meager food portions at odd hours. Basketball was one of the only activities, he said.
Contards and human rights, sure they're for it, they think wateboarding isn't against human rights even though scared ass Hannity refused to be waterboarded.