"Ritmo": Inside the inhumane Texas detention center that should be a crime, even if it's not Cheney
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"Ritmo": Inside the inhumane Texas detention center that should be a crime, even if it's not Cheney
"I call it 'Ritmo' -- like Gitmo, but it's in Raymondville," said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer from nearby Harlingen.
-- Washington Post, Feb. 2, 2007.
OK, first of all, the bad news. Dick Cheney is not going to jail, not any time soon, at least, and not because of the bizarre report that the vice president of the United States has been indicted in a small, obscure county deep in the heart of South Texas in a scandal over federal prison and detention abuses there. Aside from the obvious fact that a Willacy County, Texas, grand jury lacks authority over federal actions, the indictment of Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other is not even signed by a judge, and the result of a wacky -- controversial wouldn't do the man justice -- renegade lame duck DA. It's almost not even worth noting that Cheney's alleged tie -- investing his millions in Vanguard mutual funds that are major owners of publicly traded federal prison contractors -- is weak beyond belief; by the grand jury's reasoning, one could surmise that others with Vanguard 401K plans (example: journalists at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer!) could be charged as well.
That's a shame, because a) as noted here many times, Cheney's role in authorizing torture and other unlawful practices in the Bush administration deserves a real criminal probe and b) the strange false-alarm over this vice presidential indictment will probably obscure the fact that what has been taking place in Raymondville, Texas, during Bush and Cheney's time in office is a crime -- maybe statutory, maybe not, but definitely a moral one.
Willacy County, scene of today's indictments, is also home to the largest of a new generation of detention camps where thousands of undocumented immigrants -- the vast majority of whom have committed no crime other than seeking America's promise of a new life, without proper papers -- are now detained in conditions that could be described ironically as hot, flat, and crowded -- living in massive tents with poor food, non-existent health care and facing months if not years deprived of their basic liberty.
It wasn't always that way. For years, American policy was to catch and release undocumented immigrants, but that all changed with the GOP's politically charged crackdown on illegal immigration, which led in 2005 to a new policy of detaining undocumented non-Mexicans until they receive a deportation hearing and are usually booted from the country. The new policy meant doling out millions to politically connected prison firms and contractors (including the formerly Cheney-run Hallibuton) to hastily build these detention centers, including $65 million for the one in poverty-stricken Willacy County, some 260 miles south of Austin, that isn't even a structure but, as most simply call it, "Tent City."
Remember, these immigrants -- the majority at "Ritmo" hail from El Salvador, torn apart by years of civil strife -- have committed no crime beyond seeking to enter America without paperwork, and yet the Willacy County facility is in many ways quite simply a prison, like Gitmo, stark and surrounded by barbed wire. Here's how "Tent City" was described by the American Civil Liberties Union:
The Willacy County Detention Facility is the largest immigration detention facility in the country. The facility is made up of ten large tents, each of which is designed to house 200 people. The tents are windowless and lights are on around-the-clock, making it difficult to sleep. No partitions exist to separate the showers, toilets, sinks, and eating areas, and detainees report that they are occasionally forced to eat with their hands because no utensils are provided.
The Washington Post article fills in more details:
Because lights are on around the clock, a visitor finds many occupants buried in their blankets throughout the day. The stillness and torpor of the pod's communal room, where 50 to 60 people dwell, are noticeable.
Goodwin described a group of women who huddled in a recreation yard on a recent 40-degree day with a 25-mph wind. "They had no blanket, no sweat shirt, no jacket," she said. "Officers were wearing earmuffs, and detainees were outside for an hour with short-sleeved polyester uniforms and shower shoes and not necessarily socks."
Perhaps more troubling, lawyers said, large numbers of immigrants have been transferred from Boston, New York, New Jersey and Florida, far from their families and lawyers. Because some immigration judges do not permit hearings by teleconference, detainees are essentially deprived of counsel.
There have been other problems inside "Tent City" -- mealworms were found inside some of the food there last year, for example, and another study found a stunning lack of available healthcare at Willacy -- but by now you probably get the idea. In many ways, this immigrant detention program is a metaphor for what we've seen time and time again during the Cheney-Bush years, a rushed and ill-conceived federal action (despite the harsh impact on those captured, the program's effect on solving the undocumented immigration problem is fairly minimal) that's meant big bucks for a few connected contractors, with little or no thought toward its degrading impact on real human beings, or on how America is perceived by the rest of the world.
Now, a nation that famously asked for the world's tired, poor, hungry and sick is taking refugees from a war-torn and poverty stricken corner of our own continent, and making them more hungry and depriving them of sleep before sending then away. How sad. That's not just an indictment of Dick Cheney, though. That's an indictment for all of us who allowed a harsh tent city called "Ritmo" to rise on our watch.
"criminals and miscreants...---}} Batboy never disappoints. I had a whole lot of work done on some properties recently. The contractor I hired had a bunch of Guatemalan's working for him. I asked if they were legal - but highly doubt the contractor was truthful. The contractor is the most honest contractor I've ever worked with (and I used to be in the business). Completely on the up and up. The guys he hired were the hardest working crew I've ever seen. They never took coffee or cigarette breaks, never hesitated to do the dirtiest or most difficult jobs. They, also, were honest (not trying to hide anything when they screwed up or broke something). But year, they're all "criminals and miscreants - because they're trying to scratch out a living and trying to overcome obstacles that batboy, by virtue of his birthright, never had to face.— Talking point sleuth
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- This shows one thing beyond a doubt - Republicans can't be trusted to run government. Well, OK - two things. The marginalized minority has never found a hate it didn't want to wallow in.— E.Plebnista
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- Its a damb crime. As far as I'm conserned, they should be sent home. You and I as tax payers are paying for these illegals to be here. They get health insurance and the whole nine. And as far as crime, yes, they do commit alot of it. Send them home and stop making us pay to keep them detained. If they want to be free in america. come in the right way and get your papers....— nat28105
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TPS - you had work done on your properties - what kind of work??? You ask if the workers were legal? Aside from the obvious stereotyping that represents - why would you accept an answer that you thought was a lie BTW??? As someone who works with labor unions, I'm just wondering how many union workers you have ever employed on your properties or do you just use scabs and illegals?? If you really cared about these people you wouldn't let them be used by this contractor but then I guess you save money, he makes more money, and the workers get scr@wed - that's right election is over the liberal democrats request the union man to go back into the closet until we need your vote in 2010 in the meantime please try not to notice we haven't really done a thing to help you in 30 years.— bird11- b.atkinson, it's also a crime to hire these "criminals" -- strangely enough, you don't see those who do hire them treated this way. Now AAngryWhiteMale, THAT would be a real deterrent -- no jobs for illegeal immigrants, no illegal immigrants.— DAS
- DAS - I agree 100% and suggest that the first arrest should be made of TPS who has admitted to the crime.— bird11
So they have 10 tents that hold 200 people each. Here's a great solution to the problem: kick all the women out of Bryn Mawr College (they can transfer to Wellesley) and put all 2000 of the illegals into the dorms over at Bryn Mawr. To satisfy all of the whiny leftists, the American federal government can also pay for the illegals to take courses, such as: "Comparative Government: The Optimality of Marx's Vision", or "Hispanic Feminist Theory".— Mr. Smith
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