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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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Wish the best for your friend, but I would point out that there were no promises made to illegal immigrants that happened to not have criminal records that they would be exempt from prosecution and deportment. I recall candidate Trump on several occasions saying they all had to go . (Which would seem to be the point of immigration law. ) I’m sure if a American was in the EU for example, (the countries that the Bernie Bros want to model the US after) with a expired visa and the immigration authorities caught up with them, they would be ushered out of the country. If I was living in a foreign country , I’d make sure my documents were up to date.
You make a good point, however, our detention centers are cesspools hardly what a First World liberal democracy is capable of.
They are a reflection of the immorality and disregard for decency of Trump and his ilk.
Thanks for reading my post. What “detention centers” would get your Good Housekeeping seal of approval? Rikers Island? Attica? Butler? I don’t see any of them in my AAA brochure…
There are examples of humane detention centers. First consider that they are a necessity. Although most detainees are not necessarily a flight risk, sone are, some are criminals, and having a center where they can be processed for deportation is advantageous.
There is no reason we cannot provide dorm-like centers for most detainees, with adequate food, health care, and sanitary conditions where families can be kept together.
Sweden is a good example of the humane treatment of prisoners, we could do this if we wanted.
This is just one of many articles on humane treatment of inmates and detainees.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/01/why-sweden-closing-prisons
How many in this and other detention centers are not the “worst of the worse”? The President has lied to the American people when he said that “worst of worse” would be apprehended by ICE. Today in Kansas the President said again that ICE only apprehends the “worse of the Worse”.
When are you going to stand up fore the people of your district?
My goodness Ruth, are you appealing to a MAGA Trump supporter for empathy for an “illegal”?
Did you fall and hit your head?
Was there a pig flying outside your window?
Did hell freeze over?
Good luck with that….
I thought I’d try plus it’s good to have readers and their responses.
I commend you for your effort, keep at the wheel, it will turn.
You’re speaking human to a trumpanzee. Good luck.