As if we didn’t already know that the situation at border detention centers has become a dystopian horror, more proof comes via a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General.
NBC News obtained the report this weekend, which is based on a visit to a facility in the El Paso area. The conditions described prove the lie to White House claims that all the talk about poor conditions is a lot of fuss over nothing. On the contrary, the conditions—including inadequate showers and badly overcrowded cells—were so bad that Border Patrol agents feared riots.
But ThinkProgress seized on the real story—this isn’t a flaw, but a design.
None of this information, however, was new to DHS. The agency had the information about the conditions at this border patrol station for months and described it in the report as “chaos.” In spite of this, nothing was done. In fact, the report clearly outlines that the poor conditions thousands are facing at the hands of the U.S. government are actually the desired outcome.
“[Border Patrol] recognize[s] they have a humanitarian issue with detaining single adults for so long, but believe if they do not have a consequence delivery system, either prosecution or ICE detention, the flow will increase,” the report states, laying bare the Trump administration’s true motives: maintaining horrible conditions at border patrol facilities is necessary to deter immigrants from coming to the United States.
To be sure, the mentality that the Border Patrol should use living conditions as a deterrent dates back to the Obama administration. But it’s quite another thing to insist that this is the way things are supposed to be.
In my view, this puts this issue firmly in “what did they know and when did they know it?” territory. Indeed, a convincing argument can be made that if any elected officials or administration officials subject to Senate confirmation knew about it, it would be an impeachable offense. After all, on the face of it, these conditions violate numerous treaties that have either been signed and ratified by the United States or are part of “customary international law”—a seven-dollar term for the accepted standard of behavior among civilized nations.
Even if it isn’t impeachable, there is no doubt this is completely unacceptable. It cannot be stated enough—this is happening in our name.