![]()
Human trafficking and slavery are huge problems no doubt. There's also sexual abuse that has been going on inside of ICE detention facilities for many, many years.
Disturbing video report at the link below. Link also includes a full transcript.
From the report:
MARIA HINOJOSA: Amy, you know, we are journalists. The work that we do is actually to serve. And we believe, in our work, that when we put sunlight, when we put sun — right? — when we uncover something, that's because we believe we live in such an advanced democratic country, that we believe things are going to get better. And they don’t. In this particular case, on the question of people — men, women, children — in this case, we’re reporting about women — being sexually abused continuously at government-run immigrant detention centers, consistently gets worse, actually. It doesn’t get better.
One of the things that we uncovered with this piece with Zeba Warsi from the PBS NewsHour is that one of the things that ICE is trying to do is to use transfers — this is a term that now you’re going to begin to hear more about, those of you who care about this kind of reporting — transfers as a way to deal with immigrants and refugees who are making complaints, or transfers in order to deal with one immigrant detention center that is shut down because of abuse, and then people are transferred to another detention facility, where they are said, “Now you’re going to be safe. Now you’re going to be safe,” or, “You’re going to be transferred from one to another, and now things are going to get better.” In fact, we have seen that it’s a form of punishment. It’s a way of shuffling off the problem, not dealing with the problem.
Amy, as you know, we have been friends and colleagues for decades now. And when I uncovered the abuse in the Frontline in 2011, it was horrific. Senator Dick Durbin goes on the Senate floor and says, “Because of the Frontline, that is why PREA, Prison Rape Elimination Act, must be offered in immigrant detention facilities.” And here we are, uncovering yet again that ICE investigates itself. What is that? They’re investigating themselves.
And finally, we have a very specific case of women coming forward, taking agency — which is part of our investigation, right? — is that they are not just victims, but they’re also taking agency, speaking up, complaining about one male nurse, who, as far as we know, has not lost his license and who sexually abused them continuously when they were seen — the nurse — when you’re in a vulnerable — just like the cut that we just heard, which is horrific. When women refugees and immigrants are at their most vulnerable, this is when they are being exposed to being abused by medical personnel. It is horrific, Amy. I had to go into a whole other series of therapy because of this exposure yet again.
