Inland Empire Progressive

From the moment one reads the disturbing reports coming out of the Adelanto ICE facility, the comparison to some of the most infamous detention and concentration camps since World War 2 begins to seem less figurative than literal. People with disabilities are held in unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the facility, detainees routinely denied basic needs like adequate food, safe water, clean clothing, medical and mental‐health care.  The report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General from 2018 found nooses in detainee cells, improper and inadequate detainee medical care at Adelanto.  KHSU has reported that ne detainee was held in solitary for 904 days in the so‑called Special Management Unit. These conditions are evidence of the Trump Administration's system of cruelty that was built to treat human beings as disposable, replaceable, invisible. It is not mere imprisonment; it is the slow grind of disenfranchisement, the factory of despair that is...

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash Rep. Jay Obernolte lack of oversight of  ICE  detention facilities in our district threatens those facilities to become the Auschwitz of Adelanto and Dachau of Desert in California City. The reopening of California City Correctional Facility (CCCF) as an ICE detention center, operated by the private prison company CoreCivic, is a troubling development that demands oversight.  CCCF was once slated for closure as part of Governor Newsom’s broader effort to reduce California’s prison population. But with the federal government ramping up deportations under the Trump administration, the facility has been repurposed to detain immigrants—many of whom have no criminal record and are simply seeking a better life. Representative Obernolte has stated otherwise in a Facebook post when he visited the facility but provided no concrete evidence except to trust his word.   Economic gain should never come at the expense of human dignity. ...