Wednesday, September 26, 2007

ICE Prisons

A friend sends along a link to this WaPo story on a proposed illegal immigrant prison in VA. Quick details:

Stolle stressed that the center would not be used to house immigrants whose only crime is being in the country illegally, nor would it house those convicted of serious crimes such as homicide.

Instead, it would house illegal immigrants arrested and charged with less serious offenses -- such as driving under the influence -- who state officials and ICE agree should be forced to leave the United States.
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Mukit Hossain, a founder of Project Hope and Harmony, a nonprofit group that established a day-laborer hiring center in Herndon that recently closed, called the detention center a "very, very scary proposal."

"If they need more detention centers, then by all means build more detention centers. But to categorically set aside something which is going to be a detention center for ICE and immigrants, it opens up a very problematic notion, including possibilities of human rights violations. And it will create fear in all immigrant communities," Hossain said.

A lot of states face this, but I can't see that many state legislators, already getting antsy in most states about building prisons for their own citizens, thinking this is something they'll want to copy. Although they may think isolating them somewhere is okay if they can do it on the cheap. Plus, we've found in other states that the deportation isn't ABC. Our friend asks: And what will Virginia do with them? Teach them English? Give them citizenship lessons?

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