Detention for Illegal Aliens

The Chiswicks’ proposal not a practical nor humanitarian answer to the problem, if, in fact, it is a “problem.” First, it is not practical because of the enormous costs involved. There are literally tens of thousands of “illegals” crossing the border each month. In order to “temporarily detain” these “illegal aliens” (and the authors do not suggest how long detention should be), the government would have to build many more “processing centers” (as they are euphemistically called). The costs for this, let alone feeding and housing the detainees, would be prohibitive.

Second, their answer is not as “humane” as they suggest. The authors state that they do not want to “conjure up images of barbed wire and concentration camps,” and that detainees could be kept in “minimum-security facilities.” Had the authors visited the El Centro Processing Center, where many of these “illegals” are kept, they would know something about these centers. El Centro sports double rows of barbed-wire fence and armed guards. In the past 3 years there have been two hunger strikes by detainees to protest the inhuman conditions of the center; the last was broken up by INS agents in riot gear, though the strike was peaceful and the detainees unarmed.

THOMAS WARD

Los Angeles