Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, who has researched instances of concentration camps in France, South Africa, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and - with Japanese internment - the United States.
She contends the U.S. is operating such a system right now at our southern border.
She contends the U.S. is operating such a system right now at our southern border.
“We have what I would call a concentration camp system,” Pitzer says, “and the definition of that in my book is, mass detention of civilians without trial.”
Not every concentration camp is a death camp - in fact, their primary purpose isn't extermination, and never in the beginning. Often, much of the death and suffering that occurs is a result of insufficient resources, overcrowding, and deteriorating conditions.
So far, 24 people have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration, while six children have died in the care of other agencies since September.
Many of the people housed in these facilities are not so-called "illegal" immigrants. If you present yourself at the border seeking asylum, you have a legal right to a hearing under domestic and international law. They are refugees who have not committed a crime and are fleeing violence and persecution.
Yet they are being detained on what increasingly seems to be an indefinite basis.
The full article is available here
Many of the people housed in these facilities are not so-called "illegal" immigrants. If you present yourself at the border seeking asylum, you have a legal right to a hearing under domestic and international law. They are refugees who have not committed a crime and are fleeing violence and persecution.
Yet they are being detained on what increasingly seems to be an indefinite basis.
The full article is available here
