While one shouldn’t have a ton of sympathy for hardened violent criminals, it is entirely fair to have a lot of concern about the many migrants, undocumented and otherwise, who are being rounded up like cattle under the guise of “deporting criminals.” It is precisely because we as decent people should object to this fascist-like takeover that our attention best be directed at the Attorney for the State of Florida’s new idea and why it is a travesty before it gets off the ground. While the government has shown almost no ability to sift through the actual criminals versus people who just happen to be here, Florida proposes to treat them all the same – perhaps worse – than some of the nation’s worst. The attorney general is proposing “Alligator Alcatraz.”
All of this originates with Florida AG James Uthmeier, who earlier this week was held in contempt for defying a federal judge on immigration. Here is Uthmeier and his plan: (Video Below)
“Florida’s been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE’s efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens. The governor tasks state leaders to identify places for new and temporary detention facilities. I think this is the best one. As I call it, Alligator Alcatraz. The 30-square-mile area is completely surrounded by the Everglades. It’s the perfect place to build a detention facility. If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them except alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Within 30-60 days, it could be up and running and could house 1000 criminal aliens. Alligator Alcatraz, we’re ready to go.”
Please note the 30-60 days “point.” This isn’t going to be some sprawling fortress built by a for-profit prison chain. No – these people, some of whom are guaranteed to be elderly or quite young, will almost surely be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, Florida, with either poor AC or no AC, terrible food, and questionable sanitation – undoubtedly no medical care. It would be bad enough were this for bad guys – which is what we were told this was about, it’s much worse in that this is surely going to enclose some of the very best immigrants.
You know that Trump will love the idea, and that’s another reason this is so dangerous. There is no grown-up around to say, “That actually doesn’t sound ideal… ” We are talking about a president who, at one point, wanted a moat built on the border that was filled with snakes and giant alligators. Trump will probably need someone to rub his belly to get over his excitement about this.
Plus, all of this is just so stupid. You have to know that part of the appeal is the near-desire to have someone try to escape and get bitten. Unfortunately, for some of these poor souls, they would probably exchange a bite over losing their families and/or going back to a violent future.
Most of these people are far from the worst of us.
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I still like the Aleutians solution. We deport corrupt world leaders like trump and Putin to an abandoned military base on an Aleutian island for life (such as it is). No return ticket.
Incidentally, if you have a Google, Facebook or Apple account, please be aware of this data breach:
https://apnews.com/article/large-login-leak-cybernews-google-apple-meta-2a758a40c398b0a68fb2371a522f70ed
Shemya would be a good spot. It’s pretty much a barren rock way the hell out in the Aleutians. During the Cold War it was actually an important Air Force listening post, intercepting Soviet military communications. Given the crypto (communications – not currency) it was a secret place and hard to access which given it’s proximity to Russia made it perfect. It’s a harsh place and was tough duty so they tried to make it as comfortable as they could. But it rains a lot there and the wind is no bargain, especially for planes landing and taking off from the single runway as it’s almost never blowing in the ideal direction. In other words not a place where anyone but a highly trained and skilled pilot would try to fly in under the radar that still operates there for a prison break.
I recall at Camp Pendleton being frequently threatened with being sent to Adak, another and larger (as I’d learn) in the Aleutians. It was an unpleasant prospect to us all. I would wind up in the DC area and attached to PMO, and became the NCO in charge of vehicle registrations/base stickers, parking and traffic court. Anyone whether Marine or Navy checking in for duty at the Naval Annex across the street in Arlington or at the Pentagon had to pay us a visit.
One day a Navy Officer showed up and I took care of getting him his base decals for his vehicles. I saw he was transferring in from Adak and mentioned that old ‘We’ll ship your ass to Adak’ threat. He asked me if I liked hunting and fishing and other outdoor recreation. I told him sure, and that I grew up doing all that and still did. He then said I’d love Adak and went on to talk about how great it was! Damn. But Shemya? He’d been there too and said it was worse than I knew.
“While one shouldn’t have a ton of sympathy for hardened violent criminals”
Why not, they’re still humans, with human rights?
A “ton.”
And it is relative to the people who haven’t done anything wrong such as immigrants.
If someone hurt my daughter, I wouldn’t have a ton of sympathy – I would want human rights followed.
jason
I don’t think sympathy has anything to do with this. The minute someone in corrections starts talking about sympathy is the minute they are in danger of trashing human rights. Yeah, I can give a bit more slack to people not in corrections, but they also should be aware of the human rights aspect. As you are.