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Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT
(www.propublica.org)
“This will teach you not to enter our country illegally,” Colmenares said one ICE official told him in Spanish. He wanted to explain that wasn’t true in his case but could tell there was no point. He got off the plane and was loaded onto a bus to prison.
Several of those interviewed said suicide crossed their minds. Ramos said he thought: “I’d rather die or kill myself than to keep living through this experience. Being woken up every day at 4 a.m. to be insulted and beaten. For wanting to shower, for asking for something so basic. ... Hearing your brothers getting beaten, crying for help.”
Four talked about a man who started cutting himself and writing messages on the walls and sheets with his blood: “Stop hitting us.” “We are fathers.” “We are brothers.” “We are innocent people.”
None of the men in the article did anything wrong. Even the ones that "entered illegally" were required to do so by US law. They were in compliance with the instructions they were given when they got here. And this is what they got for it.
Yes, seeking asylum is legal. Asylum seekers must be in the U.S. or at a port of entry (an airport or an official land crossing) to request the opportunity to apply for asylum.
"There’s no way to ask for a visa in advance for the purpose of seeking asylum,” says Byrne. “You just have to show up.”
However, the Trump and Biden administrations have restricted access to seeking asylum at the border. Currently, asylum seekers are effectively blocked from exercising their right to request the fundamental protection of asylum. - Rescue.org
What makes someone considered to be here illegally is nothing more than what the government decides to make it illegal. When the people in charge are racist and cruel, that gives them a lot of freedom to deny a lot of freedom. With him talking about stripping people of legally granted citizenship or natural born citizenship (Elon, Rosie O'Donnell, Zohran Mamdani), what keeps any of us safe from being taken away if we say or do the wrong thing?
Despite whatever position you may have on these people or them being here, this isn't a just way to treat anyone. This is cruelty for the sake of cruelty.