The United States’ detention camps for immigrants are not only a moral offense, they are a large step into the waters of a totalitarian state. According to the ICE website, they describe the detention centers as “safe, secure, and humane environments, and appropriate conditions of confinement” (US Immigration). This description skips over the elements of extreme control they enforce over a human being, degrading their basic human rights. There are reports after reports of the deplorable conditions immigrants must live in, as well as the psychological state many are left in due to injustices and the never-ending cycle of bureaucracy. Time Magazine reported, sometimes there is no soap, no places to shower or wash hands, and babies drink from dirty bottles (Joung). This is not diplomacy, nor immigration regulation. This is control over a human life.

The series on Netflix, Orange Is the New Black does a great job depicting the detention centers, invoking a guttural empathy for how an immigrant feels. Here is a video various scenes of the ICE jurisdiction (Netflix, 2019).