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Dear Congresswoman Tenney:
I will start by saying that you and I probably agree on few things, thus this letter is an appeal to your humanity.
I learned yesterday that a person who I do not know but is a close friend of a friend of mine is being held in the Batavia Federal Detention Facility, located in the 24th Congressional District.
This person overstayed a student visa. If I’m not mistaken, that is an offense, but Pres Trump in his campaign said that those who would be caught and deported would be the worst of the worst, for example, hardened criminals, people with serious offenses. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen continues to insist that only the “worst of the worst” are rounded up. The person I refer to overstayed a student visa.
The conditions at the detention facility include:
- inadequate food
- lack of medicine
- a voluntary work program that credits $1.00 a day to their commissary accounts.
I wonder, then, if our system of representational government is functioning, as I have many friends in my circle, some conservative, some liberal, who find these conditions abhorrent.
As I stated at the beginning of this letter, we agree on little, but I appeal to your sense of humanity and, yes, fairness, to take some action to ensure that the detainees are treated as human beings. Just like you and me.
Thank you for your time.
Ruth Yanoff
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