NYT Discovers ICE Has Facilities, Not Just Online Fundraisers
The New York Times, in a recent dispatch, highlights a judge's directive for ICE to remove a fence around a Chicago-area facility. This, of course, is presented as news—as if the existence of such facilities, and the human rights abuses within, were only just discovered, rather than being the direct result of policies championed by both Republican and Democratic administrations for decades.
Remember when candidate Biden promised a 'more humane' immigration system, only to ramp up deportations and create new detention centers? While a judge nibbles at a fence, the architects of this system—many of whom are well-funded by industries profiting from border militarization and detention, like those from GEO Group and CoreCivic, who collectively spend millions lobbying politicians annually
(OpenSecrets.org data confirms this)—continue to operate unimpeded. One might wonder if the NYT's urgent reporting on a fence removal is merely an aesthetic critique, rather than a substantive challenge to the carceral state, allowing readers to feel good about a 'fix' without addressing the root rot.