Things could definitely be worse. At lot worse. To take but one example, you could be a detainee at an immigration facility near Tucson. To say that things are bad there -- really bad -- is a significant understatement. Even after the preliminary injunction entered below, but especially before it.
Maybe I should have realized just how bad it was to be picked up as an unauthorized alien. Especially for those first few days. But I didn't know. I didn't know we did things like this.
"Discovery revealed
that between June 10, 2015, and September 28, 2015, only
about 3,000 of approximately 17,000 detainees were
processed out of detention within 12 hours. About 8,644
detainees were held at a Border Patrol station up to 23 hours;
6,807 were held for up to 47 hours; 1,207 were held up to
71 hours; and 476 were held for 72 hours or more. . . .
[O]f the 16,992 detainees held between June 10 and September 28, 2015, only 122 were recorded to have
received a mat, and the others’ bedding needs were met with
only a Mylar sheet/blanket. . . . the harshness caused by the lack of mats and
the inadequacy of the Mylar blankets is
compounded by the Defendants’ practices of
keeping holding-cells lights turned on 24-7,
feeding one of the three regular hot meals to
detainees at 4:00 a.m., moving detainees in
and out of holding cells throughout the night
for processing, overcrowding cells which
causes people to lie cramped together and
next to toilet facilities or to sit or stand up,
and because the hard concrete floors and
benches retain the cold caused by low
thermostat temperatures and make it too hard
and cold to sleep."
So basically, for up to three days (or more), you're crammed into a room with no bed, freezing your butt off with only a Mylar sheet, crammed into a tiny room with the lights on 24/7, unable to sleep or lie down -- again, for three days -- while people get moved in and out all day and night.
Not good. Not good at all. (And I'm not going to even talk about the toilet situation. OMG.)
That this isn't our own lot is yet another thing to be thankful for during this holiday season.
