1/25/2020 - Alexandra Wilkes Townhall.com
Earlier
this month, I spent a week in Texas touring family immigration processing
centers operated by private sector contractors under contracts with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I know that some of what I saw might
be difficult for hardened critics to believe. They've painted a picture in
their own minds and for others of conditions based on politically-motivated
rhetoric rather than facts and first-hand observation on the ground. Here’s
what I saw:
Children
weren’t in cages. They were in classrooms and on playgrounds.
While
touring a facility that was opened under the Obama administration to house
migrant families together, I saw children eagerly listening to story time and
doing science experiments. They were learning with the help of computers,
tablets, and smart boards. From all that they’ve gone through to get there, the
kids looked engaged and comfortable. They freely walked throughout the campus
with their mothers on foot or were in strollers provided by the facility. There
were toys and a library with over 20,000 books in a variety of languages. Kids
were visited by Santa Claus on Christmas and got cupcakes on their birthdays.
You can’t coach the kind of genuine laughter and smiles I saw in the places
that weren’t even part of the tour.
Nobody
was drinking out of toilets, but there is an all-you-can-eat salad bar.
It
might make a catchy headline, but it’s simply not reality. Everywhere I went,
there was plenty of fresh water – in bottles, coolers, and water fountains.
At
these facilities, residents get three hot meals a day, and the parents and kids
have access to free milk, fresh fruit, and other snacks at all times in their
living quarters. Many items like rice, beans, salad, and tortillas are
all-you-can-eat. If a mom needs formula, she gets it for free. If residents
have religious or medical dietary restrictions, they’re accommodated. They even
poll the residents to see what types of food and regional cuisines they would
prefer. The dining areas were clean and orderly, and the food smelled great
(and I’m picky).
Health,
and particularly mental health, was clearly a priority.
No
matter your position on immigration, we can all agree that many of the people
crossing our borders have experienced unimaginable trauma. At the centers I
toured, residents are immediately screened at intake for conditions like PTSD,
depression, and anxiety. I noticed signs posted in the dormitories (in multiple
languages) listing the symptoms of these problems and imploring residents to
seek help from their on-site psychologist. One center even had a therapy dog on
hand to assist residents.
At
these facilities, there are multiple “urgent care” type centers where patients
are seen the same day for ailments. The medical centers were filled with staff
– the doctors and nurses are actually federal employees, not contractors. There
were no long lines of patients waiting to be seen. Additionally, residents have
access to dental care and vaccinations, and for many, it’s the first time
they’ve ever had access to these kinds of resources. As for personal hygiene
supplies, residents have unlimited free access to essential items like
toothpaste, deodorant, and feminine products.
The
staff keep up the facilities – not the residents.
One
of the first things that I noticed in these family processing centers was that
there were staff members everywhere, including a number doing maintenance and
cleaning work. The daily fresh linens residents receive or the prepared food?
The facility takes care of that.
Only
if they want to earn money – which they often either send home or save
up for the next leg of their journey – residents can volunteer to assist the
center with light sweeping, dusting, and other minor cleaning tasks. Congress
first established these voluntary work programs in the 1950s. All of the money
goes directly into residents’ accounts, and contractors are required to run the
program to benefit the residents, not themselves. There’s plenty of staff to do
the work, but these programs are popular with residents who want to stay busy
and put some money in their pocket upon release.
Private
sector does not mean no oversight. Quite the contrary.
A
common misconception about contractor-operated facilities is that their
affiliation with for-profit companies means that they can cut corners with no
oversight. One visit to a family processing center will quickly refute these
notions. There are watchful eyes everywhere, including the dozens of federal
ICE personnel working permanently on-site, company and independent auditors,
legal and humanitarian advocates, chaplains, priests and other religious
volunteers, and state health and child welfare inspectors. Moreover, the very
legal organizations that are often advocating for these facilities’ abolition
are given constant access to meet with the residents confidentially.
The
bottom line is this: the immigration debate is heated enough without false
distortions about the type of treatment contractors provide. After my visits, I
am confident that the systems established across multiple administrations –
Democrat and Republican – are today delivering humane, respectful, and
dignified treatment to families caught up in the U.S. immigration system.
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