U.S. Government Hands out Video of Immigrant Detention Centers, Doesn’t Seem to Realize the Inherent Horror

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a U.S. government agency, made the choice to release a video of an immigrant detention facility in McAllen, TX to CBS’ David Begnaud. Considering this comes from the powers-that-be, it would be a reasonable guess to assume that it was total propaganda at worst, and at best, a very rose-colored look at a disgusting situation.

Instead, it’s horrifying, dehumanizing, and enraging. Watch:

BREAKING: Border Patrol @CBP just gave us this video of the detention facility we toured yesterday in McAllen, Texas. We weren’t allowed to bring in cameras, or interview anyone. To be clear: this is government handout video. pic.twitter.com/Zjy80qIZFZ

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) June 18, 2018

From the cages, to the foil blankets, to the crying children, to the miserable, exhausted families, this is a nightmare. And that’s the video they chose to release! It’s not even clear that this is where they keep the children that ICE rips from their parents at the border! They’re showing us the least offensive parts!

Again, this is the least terrible version of the reality at these detention centers, and it’s still ungodly awful.

If you’re not up in arms about this situation, you should be. Call a congressman, give money to aid organizations, or even write a damn Facebook post. This is so far beyond shameful that even our own government can’t disguise the hell we’re putting these people through. And the scary part is, if we can judge by the fact that they’re not even trying to hide these conditions, they don’t seem to recognize (or care about) their own fascism.

Update: CBP objected to Bregnaud’s use of the word cages, even though they said “it’s not inaccurate.” Watch this mess:

This just in from @davidbegnaud: Border Patrol has reached out to @cbsthismorning and said they are “very uncomfortable” with the use of the word cages. They say it’s not inaccurate and added that they may be cages but people are not being treated like animals. pic.twitter.com/0zSDqJszgK

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 18, 2018