Thank you for covering this Salt Box. While it is truly shameful behavior that reflects poorly on all Americans, it is essential that we know about it.
It makes me wonder what the specific language the contracts contain in reference to the care that will be provided. Is it boiler plate language that applies to each facility or is it customized in some way?
I also wonder about whether the operators are guaranteed payment regardless of how full they are relative to their capacity and if they have opportunities to profit on specific categories such as medical services, food, clothing, ... What incentives do the contracts contain to either provide excellent care versus lowest cost care? What proof are they required to provide to the taxpayers regarding their performance?
Yes, boilerplate language about everything- the excellent food, medical care, etc., haha. Notice how their statements after each death are almost verbatim.
And I'm pretty sure they profit from everything - high number of "detainees", low number of staff, etc.
Thank you, Ilana. I'm wondering about the different paths to profit making. They could be misrepresenting their actual expenses and pocketing the difference. They could be using sub contracts which they themselves own, so they are paying themselves, regardless of whether the receipts are accurate reflections of their costs. They could receive a guaranteed income stream, regardless of the head count.
This last one bothers me the most because it implies all the agents have to do is fill them up one time and then leave the people there with no expectation they would ever be released. Are there currently any legal restrictions or challenges to the first 2 methods? Legitimate audits that are made public or prohibitions on being an operator and also being a contractor of goods or services to the operator? There are probably other ways this could be a lucrative "investment".
As I understand it, the companies get paid a set amount per detainee, per night. But I think there's also been a minimum number of beds that have to be filled nationwide at any given time. I'm rusty on this stuff.
I'd love to see a team of investigative financial reporters look at the detention system's financial underpinnings, including corruption at every level. They certainly don't spend what they charge the government for food or medical care, obviously. And they pay the detainees $1/day to do housekeeping tasks instead of paying workers actual wages.
Thank you Ilana. I'd like to see that too. I have a feeling that an investigation of the financial agreements would reveal an explanation for why the administration is making this such a priority. It may also be a useful Achilles heel. I'm (almost?) hoping that routine grift and graft rather than bigotry and hatred are behind this project.
I don't think so. But they don't lose money or face any negative consequences, either, unless a family or another entity sues and wins. I don't know if that has happened.
Yes. There is nothing humane, lawful, or defensible about crashing into someone, keeping them in custody, and then letting their injuries go untreated. Cruelty is not a side effect here — it is the pattern.
Totally uncalled for. He is a feeling human being. ICE should be arrested for this. Oh right America doesn't have a department of justice. 😡🤬, we the people pay for trumps private corrupt lawyers 🙄
Exactly. He is a human being in pain, and they treated him like he was disposable. That is what makes this so vile — the violence is bad enough, but the indifference to his suffering after is its own kind of brutality.
Disband ICE. they must be totally removed from power. They are supremely corrupt and have a white Nationalist, fascist and racist policy that should exclude them from political life.
Arrest and prosecute to the fullest extent of the LAW!
What can we do to help? Calls to ICE? To the detention center? If there's a campaign to help this man, can you provide a link? Please God he doesn't become another ICE statistic.
That is the right question, because people should not be left watching this happen with no way to intervene. He needs public pressure, visibility, legal support, and people pushing his case hard enough that they cannot quietly disappear him into the system.
The worst thing ICE counts on is isolation. The more people keep his name, his injuries, and his treatment in public view, the harder it is for them to bury what they are doing.
His story is the clearest example of how our world has become infected with thuggery and deeply oppressive in this way. The US was a beacon of hope for relief from this. But has really lost its way and now is the number one oppressor and promoter of oppression. As I write I remember that our heritage includes thuggery from it’s inception, I thought we were turning away from that and providing a place to get away from that, but our repentance has not been real. We are back at square one. It’s time to face ourselves.
That is what makes his story hit so hard. It strips away every comforting lie and shows a country willing to use organized cruelty, then call it order, process, or enforcement.
What you wrote about false repentance lands too. A lot of people wanted to believe this country had moved past its worst instincts, but stories like this make clear how quickly that old violence comes roaring back when power decides it can.
It's vital to acknowledge that Mr. Alvarenga Rios' treatment, both during his violent arrest and within detention represents a long time pattern and not an anomaly. Douglas Menjivar was raped in 2013 at Joe Corley Det'n Ctr in TX. His head injury was laughed at by guards. After his transfer, to Polk Co. Det'n, I persuaded him to tell the Dr. about the rape and get tested. I have the medical records from the center to show that he tested positive for Syphilis and was NOT treated until we got him out. There are many similar abuse stories.
This is insane. Why does gestapo traffick victims across state lines & out of their areas so quickly? Is it so the victims have no local support? Is it so victim’s lawyers can’t reach them? Or is it because the pay for profit detention center in another state needs another warm body to charge for? Mind games, trauma, gestapo bs. Crimes against people!
That is exactly what it does. Moving people fast, far from home, and away from local support makes them easier to isolate, harder to reach, and easier to disappear into the machinery.
The cruelty is not just the detention itself. It is the deliberate disorientation, separation, and loss of access that come with it.
It's even more insidious than that. The government is evading the law by moving the detainees around.
In Trump vs J.G.G., the Supreme Court issued a per curiam (unsigned) order that writs of habeas corpus must be brought in the district the persons are detained. A writ of habeas corpus forces the government to justify the continued imprisonment of a person.
Because of the J.G.G. decision, a defense lawyer must know where a detainee is located and bring the claim in that district. By moving detainees around without notifying anyone, the government is preventing habeas writs.
A judge of any integrity would harshly rebuke the government for using such devious tactics and force the prosecutors to immediately identify where a detainee is located with possible sanctions and contempt for the prosecutors.
These government tactics are something out of Kafka, but much more dumb.
This is what ICE brutality looks like when the violence does not end with the arrest. They crashed into him, kept him in custody, and then left his injuries untreated while moving him through the system like his pain did not matter.
That is not enforcement. That is abuse layered with neglect.
That is exactly the question. What are we doing if a man can be injured, taken into custody, denied treatment, and still be treated like the problem instead of the victim of abuse.
Trumps SS strikes again. Defund and dismantle ice and homeland security. Charge these criminals, try them, and put them in jail
💯
Thank you for covering this Salt Box. While it is truly shameful behavior that reflects poorly on all Americans, it is essential that we know about it.
It makes me wonder what the specific language the contracts contain in reference to the care that will be provided. Is it boiler plate language that applies to each facility or is it customized in some way?
I also wonder about whether the operators are guaranteed payment regardless of how full they are relative to their capacity and if they have opportunities to profit on specific categories such as medical services, food, clothing, ... What incentives do the contracts contain to either provide excellent care versus lowest cost care? What proof are they required to provide to the taxpayers regarding their performance?
Yes, boilerplate language about everything- the excellent food, medical care, etc., haha. Notice how their statements after each death are almost verbatim.
And I'm pretty sure they profit from everything - high number of "detainees", low number of staff, etc.
Thank you, Ilana. I'm wondering about the different paths to profit making. They could be misrepresenting their actual expenses and pocketing the difference. They could be using sub contracts which they themselves own, so they are paying themselves, regardless of whether the receipts are accurate reflections of their costs. They could receive a guaranteed income stream, regardless of the head count.
This last one bothers me the most because it implies all the agents have to do is fill them up one time and then leave the people there with no expectation they would ever be released. Are there currently any legal restrictions or challenges to the first 2 methods? Legitimate audits that are made public or prohibitions on being an operator and also being a contractor of goods or services to the operator? There are probably other ways this could be a lucrative "investment".
As I understand it, the companies get paid a set amount per detainee, per night. But I think there's also been a minimum number of beds that have to be filled nationwide at any given time. I'm rusty on this stuff.
I'd love to see a team of investigative financial reporters look at the detention system's financial underpinnings, including corruption at every level. They certainly don't spend what they charge the government for food or medical care, obviously. And they pay the detainees $1/day to do housekeeping tasks instead of paying workers actual wages.
Thank you Ilana. I'd like to see that too. I have a feeling that an investigation of the financial agreements would reveal an explanation for why the administration is making this such a priority. It may also be a useful Achilles heel. I'm (almost?) hoping that routine grift and graft rather than bigotry and hatred are behind this project.
I believe they get more money for each dead detainee.
I don't think so. But they don't lose money or face any negative consequences, either, unless a family or another entity sues and wins. I don't know if that has happened.
Cruel, heartless, disgusting, anti-American American government. Led by the Chief Cruelty Creator, Donald Trump.
💪🏾Power to The People 💪🏾
Yes. There is nothing humane, lawful, or defensible about crashing into someone, keeping them in custody, and then letting their injuries go untreated. Cruelty is not a side effect here — it is the pattern.
Totally uncalled for. He is a feeling human being. ICE should be arrested for this. Oh right America doesn't have a department of justice. 😡🤬, we the people pay for trumps private corrupt lawyers 🙄
Exactly. He is a human being in pain, and they treated him like he was disposable. That is what makes this so vile — the violence is bad enough, but the indifference to his suffering after is its own kind of brutality.
https://resist.bot/petitions/PIDVHW
Please share petition and sign to release him.
Disband ICE. they must be totally removed from power. They are supremely corrupt and have a white Nationalist, fascist and racist policy that should exclude them from political life.
Arrest and prosecute to the fullest extent of the LAW!
💯 An agency this abusive, this racist, and this shielded from consequences should never have been allowed this much power in the first place.
What they are doing is not some broken version of the mission. It is the mission people are finally being forced to look at clearly.
Thank you for highlighting these horrible truths
These truths are horrific, but they need to be named plainly because this is exactly how abuse gets normalized when people look away.
What can we do to help? Calls to ICE? To the detention center? If there's a campaign to help this man, can you provide a link? Please God he doesn't become another ICE statistic.
That is the right question, because people should not be left watching this happen with no way to intervene. He needs public pressure, visibility, legal support, and people pushing his case hard enough that they cannot quietly disappear him into the system.
The worst thing ICE counts on is isolation. The more people keep his name, his injuries, and his treatment in public view, the harder it is for them to bury what they are doing.
His story is the clearest example of how our world has become infected with thuggery and deeply oppressive in this way. The US was a beacon of hope for relief from this. But has really lost its way and now is the number one oppressor and promoter of oppression. As I write I remember that our heritage includes thuggery from it’s inception, I thought we were turning away from that and providing a place to get away from that, but our repentance has not been real. We are back at square one. It’s time to face ourselves.
That is what makes his story hit so hard. It strips away every comforting lie and shows a country willing to use organized cruelty, then call it order, process, or enforcement.
What you wrote about false repentance lands too. A lot of people wanted to believe this country had moved past its worst instincts, but stories like this make clear how quickly that old violence comes roaring back when power decides it can.
It's vital to acknowledge that Mr. Alvarenga Rios' treatment, both during his violent arrest and within detention represents a long time pattern and not an anomaly. Douglas Menjivar was raped in 2013 at Joe Corley Det'n Ctr in TX. His head injury was laughed at by guards. After his transfer, to Polk Co. Det'n, I persuaded him to tell the Dr. about the rape and get tested. I have the medical records from the center to show that he tested positive for Syphilis and was NOT treated until we got him out. There are many similar abuse stories.
This is insane. Why does gestapo traffick victims across state lines & out of their areas so quickly? Is it so the victims have no local support? Is it so victim’s lawyers can’t reach them? Or is it because the pay for profit detention center in another state needs another warm body to charge for? Mind games, trauma, gestapo bs. Crimes against people!
That is exactly what it does. Moving people fast, far from home, and away from local support makes them easier to isolate, harder to reach, and easier to disappear into the machinery.
The cruelty is not just the detention itself. It is the deliberate disorientation, separation, and loss of access that come with it.
Stuff abusers do. Creeps!
It's even more insidious than that. The government is evading the law by moving the detainees around.
In Trump vs J.G.G., the Supreme Court issued a per curiam (unsigned) order that writs of habeas corpus must be brought in the district the persons are detained. A writ of habeas corpus forces the government to justify the continued imprisonment of a person.
Because of the J.G.G. decision, a defense lawyer must know where a detainee is located and bring the claim in that district. By moving detainees around without notifying anyone, the government is preventing habeas writs.
A judge of any integrity would harshly rebuke the government for using such devious tactics and force the prosecutors to immediately identify where a detainee is located with possible sanctions and contempt for the prosecutors.
These government tactics are something out of Kafka, but much more dumb.
Hideous! I wondered why they were moving them around. Ty for explaining!
ICE go away
No, he needs help. Oh my goodness. This is wrong absolutely wrong. Can anyone reach him?
This is what ICE brutality looks like when the violence does not end with the arrest. They crashed into him, kept him in custody, and then left his injuries untreated while moving him through the system like his pain did not matter.
That is not enforcement. That is abuse layered with neglect.
What are we doing???
That is exactly the question. What are we doing if a man can be injured, taken into custody, denied treatment, and still be treated like the problem instead of the victim of abuse.
Anti American!!