The egregiously corrupt—though technically legal—system of private detention in the United States exploits immigrants, lining the pockets of jailers while incentivizing government enforcement strategies.
Beyond trying to fix the migrant detention regime with incremental reforms, migrant rights’ activists should demand the detention regime be scrapped all together.
In the United States, at least 5000 children are abandoned and left in state foster care, or in the care of extended family, when birth parents are arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many parents are deported with their children having little hope of ever reuniting with them again. On this day, we’ve been cleared to visit with a couple of mothers from Mexico.
