More Shame
So it's come to this: a member of Congress has had to introduce a bill requiring the Department of Homeland Security's immigration agency to provide basic health care to detainees. From today's NY Times:
The head of a Congressional subcommittee looking into complaints of inadequate medical care in immigration detention announced on Tuesday that she had introduced legislation to set mandatory standards for care and to require that all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.
“This should not be part of the debate about illegal immigration,” the chairwoman, Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, said of the bill, which she introduced late last week. “This is about whether the government is conducting itself according to the basic minimum standards of civilization.” ...
Ms. Lofgren’s legislation would require the federal government to establish mandatory standards for medical and mental health care, replacing the voluntary standards that apply now in the network of more than 300 publicly and privately run jails where the government holds people while it decides whether to deport them.
The bill would also require the secretary of the Homeland Security Department to report all deaths in immigration detention within 48 hours to the Justice Department’s inspector general as well as its own. Immigration officials would be required to submit a detailed report on such deaths to Congress every year. [Emphasis added]
"The basic minimum standards of civilization:" now there's a concept. Unfortunately, it's one that the current administration doesn't understand or doesn't appreciate, as we've learned from the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The very fact that a congressional bill had to be introduced is not only troubling but also shameful.
The head of a Congressional subcommittee looking into complaints of inadequate medical care in immigration detention announced on Tuesday that she had introduced legislation to set mandatory standards for care and to require that all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.
“This should not be part of the debate about illegal immigration,” the chairwoman, Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, said of the bill, which she introduced late last week. “This is about whether the government is conducting itself according to the basic minimum standards of civilization.” ...
Ms. Lofgren’s legislation would require the federal government to establish mandatory standards for medical and mental health care, replacing the voluntary standards that apply now in the network of more than 300 publicly and privately run jails where the government holds people while it decides whether to deport them.
The bill would also require the secretary of the Homeland Security Department to report all deaths in immigration detention within 48 hours to the Justice Department’s inspector general as well as its own. Immigration officials would be required to submit a detailed report on such deaths to Congress every year. [Emphasis added]
"The basic minimum standards of civilization:" now there's a concept. Unfortunately, it's one that the current administration doesn't understand or doesn't appreciate, as we've learned from the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The very fact that a congressional bill had to be introduced is not only troubling but also shameful.
Labels: Human Rights, Humane Treatment of Animals, Immigration
posted by Diane at 3:48 AM
1 Comments:
You know, I've never been starry-eyed about the bad actors among us and what they're capable of ... hell, I grew up with the Vietnam War. But, it seems to me, they were, for the most part, restrained somehow by the better, by good hearts, goodwill and decency.
I don't see that so much now.
There are so many of them, nasty, violent bullies in all walks of life, and they have glommed on to the belief that we are under siege because we've been too nice, too humane, too good.
And they're raising their kids to act on that belief, too. Ain't no Boy and Girl Scouts in their Fortress America.
Post a Comment
<< Home