A new report on immigrant detention facilities reveals that taxpayers fork over nearly $2 billion a year to house and care for those who illegally come into the United States.
According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the yearly bill is $1,993,770,000.
The new report, titled “With Liberty and Justice For All,” condemns how the U.S. treats immigrants in the facilities and calls for the immediate release of illegal immigrant familes.
But a dissenting commissioner, Gail Heriot, said she conducted her own review of two criticized facilities and found them in tip-top shape.
Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego, visited the Karnes County Residential Center run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas. “I was pleasantly surprised by Karnes,” said.
Inside, she wrote that the illegal immigrant families were referred to as residents, not detainees, and offered everything from native foods to Zumba classes.
“The intake area has ‘Bienvenidos’ written in large letters as well as pictures of SpongeBob SquarePants, the sun, a cactus and a giraffe whose neck contains the markings of a ruler (thus allowing children’s height to be measured). The staff there seemed pleasant,” she wrote.
New residents are shown a video titled, “Know your rights” and provided private shower facilities. “Flip-flops, baby bottles, diapers, baby shampoo, brushes, body lotion, and pacifiers are also available,” she wrote in her rebuttal to the report.
Within 24 hours, each immigrant is given a medical screening in the 24-hour walk-in medical facility manned with nurses and doctors.
A visit to the dentist comes within 14 days.
And not only are clothes provided, but shoes can be traded in weekly.
“The clothing is new — something that seemed to surprise some and possibly all the members of the Commission present (including me). I observed tags on clothing from well-known makers of children’s clothing like Carter’s and Fisher Price — all of it purchased by GEO. As for their old clothing, GEO washes it while they are taking their intake shower and returns it to them. Once a week, there is an opportunity for shoe exchange. Children’s feet grow fast. But if a child loses a shoe or if the mothers need additional shoes or clothing at other times, the opportunity is available. All in all, it is hard not to conclude that this is a nice place,” she wrote.
The food also looked good, she wrote. “Efforts are made to adjust menus to the tastes of the residents. For example, we were told that the facility used to serve pinto beans, but the menu planners learned that the residents usually preferred black beans and therefore have tried to serve black beans when they can. They also learned that most residents preferred corn tortillas to flour tortillas and that they liked to eat bananas and plantains.”
Because detention can last months, for which Heriot heard complaints, school is offered to children.
The housing area is “spartan,” but clean.
Still, she heard some complaints about life in the centers. She explained:
— One woman from Mexico said that the Border Patrol had not treated her badly and that she has been treated well at Karnes. She appreciated the Zumba fitness classes and other adult education classes offered there, but she wished they would offer classes in how to speak English. (We were told by facility staff members that English and life skills classes that teach residents such things as “how to open a checking account” are available, but seldom attract more than four or five students.)
— Another woman from Honduras was concerned that her 18-month-old baby didn’t like the food or the milk served at Karnes. She was therefore having to breastfeed him. She stated, however, that she and her children are treated very well at Karnes, and numerous women in the room nodded in agreement.
— Several women were unhappy that they are not allowed to entrust their children toother residents while they attend to other things.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
