The Biden administration often inhabits the intersection between incompetence and falsehood. A new, little-covered news story about the way they reportedly treat illegal immigrants inside a federal detention facility illustrates how it is impossible to know whether the media are covering up a Biden scandal — or whether the Biden administration is lying in order to promote an open borders immigration agenda.
Both possibilities are equally plausible, with one agency of the Biden administration accusing another agency of the Biden administration of lying.
An ignored scandal?
If true, a new report shows that the Biden administration is holding illegal immigrants in one federal detention facility in reprehensible conditions — and the media have not reported it. The Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF) in Estancia, New Mexico, reportedly houses 505 detainees in revoltingly unsanitary environments. Illegal aliens are forced to live in cells with mold-riddled floors, broken sinks, and toilets clogged with human waste, according to a report issued on March 16 by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. The report, which contains photos of the cells, alleges:
“We reviewed all 157 cells in the 8 housing units holding detainees and found 83 detainee cells (roughly 53 percent) with plumbing issues, including toilets and sinks that were inoperable, clogged, or continuously cycling water,” the “Management Alert” said.
“We encountered mold and water leaks throughout the facility,” which—in addition to presenting a slipping hazard, “could also lead to health issues for both detainees and staff breathing in the mold.”
“We recommend the immediate relocation of all detainees from the facility unless and until the facility ensures adequate staffing and appropriate living conditions,” it concluded. This recommendation marks the first time the DHS inspector general has called for the immediate removal of detainees from any ICE facility, according to a spokesperson for the office.
Left-wing pressure groups immediately responded to the report, calling for the Biden administration to close the facility and set the illegal immigrants free in the United States. “We call upon ICE to immediately release, not transfer, all the people detained there, allowing them to reunite with their loved ones and receive the community-based resources and care they urgently need,” said Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. “Ending detention is the only solution,” agreed Silky Shah, the executive director of Detention Watch (a group dedicated to ending illegal immigration detention). Others aimed at shuttering this facility altogether. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) called on ICE “to immediately terminate the contract & close the center.” The National Immigration Project said, “The truth is that immigrant lives are in danger *anytime* they are in ICE custody. We must #EndDetention.”
The Biden administration responded sympathetically to the left-wing activist base. “We will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals who are in detention, nor will we tolerate substandard conditions that do not adhere to our standards,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Torrance failed previous inspections and Biden's ICE did nothing. The agency operates with impunity and then claims to "fiercely" care for individuals in its custody. These conditions are abysmal, but the system is inhumane by design. Ending detention is the only solution. https://t.co/vaZlrWw8qc
— Silky Shah (@silkys13) March 18, 2022
Or a media cover-up?
Unlike most controversies, leftist ire did not generate legacy media coverge. You might be forgiven if you have not heard about this report, as compared with the time Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed without evidence that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection told illegal immigrant detainees at one facility to drink from a toilet. NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, PBS, the Associated Press, Reuters, UPI, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today carried prominent stories about her claims in July 2019. Of course, AOC’s claims proved to be in error. As The Daily Wire reported:
A border agent who was there told the Examiner: “So this is what happened with the migrant and drinking water from toilet: She wanted water, didn’t know how to use the faucet in the cell and drank from the toilet. She never told AOC that we made her drink from the toilet. AOC, of course, changed it.… This was when she [the migrant] was apprehended and brought into the facility.” …
The Daily Mail reported: “But a CBP official said Monday in the early evening that plumbing fixtures at the locations Ocasio-Cortez visited are standard-issue jail appliances with sinks that dispense safe drinking water attached to toilets in a single unit.”
Nonetheless, the legacy media ran with AOC’s anti-border (and anti-Trump) allegations on the basis of her good word.
Now that an official government watchdog has rated the Biden administration’s detention facilities unhealthy, the media seem uninterested. A Google search shows that many of the same outlets that reported AOC’s claims at face value have reported nothing about Torrance. Certainly, the story has failed to generate the sensationalist coverage those outlets dedicated to AOC’s erroneous claims.
The response: The report is ‘falsified,’ ‘mischaracterized,’ ‘deeply unethical,’ and lacks ‘integrity’
If you have heard little about the allegations, you have likely heard even less about the response: Members of the Biden administration say the OIG lied to manipulate national leaders into closing the facility.
“We have serious concerns about the accuracy and integrity of this report,” wrote acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief of staff Jason Houser in a letter to the OIG. “In a number of instances, it appears OIG has falsified or mischaracterized evidence, and has ignored facts presented to it to achieve preconceived conclusions.”
The private corporation that operates TCDF, CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America), proved equally outraged. The Biden administration “inspectors responsible for this report acted in a deeply unethical manner, including misrepresenting evidence to negatively portray the facility,” it said in a statement. It added that at least one photo in the final report was “staged,” and the unsanitary conditions were photographed exclusively in “portions of the facility that were unoccupied and scheduled for repairs. Under no circumstances would detainees ever be placed in living areas with inoperable equipment.”
“This deliberate effort to falsely portray our company and this facility in a negative light is even more disturbing because it was done under the guise of legitimate oversight,” the corporation added. “We’re asking for an immediate review of the conduct of the inspectors.”
Others in the community, including the sheriff, came to the facility’s defense, as well. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), a foe of privately owned prisons, made an unannounced visit to TCDF on March 21 and said the OIG report seemed to be mistaken. “What we saw in the facility did not match the OIG report,” she told local media. “The sinks were working. We did not see mold. The facilities were clean.”
Curiously, she walked back her statement within days.
By mistake or by design?
Assessing the truth or falsehood of the report is impossible to anyone lacking access to the facility itself. But one is forced to ask whether this report is part of the Biden administration’s broader effort to erode immigration enforcement. Shortly after the OIG report, ICE announced it would stop using two detention facilities in Alabama and Florida, and it would reduce the number of beds in two more facilities in North Carolina and Louisiana. (It’s also worth noting that the DHS Office of Inspector General is currently under investigation for undisclosed reasons having something to do with retaliation.)
President Joe Biden’s proposed $5.8 trillion budget would cut the number of detention beds by more than 25%, even as the U.S. faces the largest wave of illegal immigration in its history. “When you really dig into what this proposed budget is all about, it’s about supporting the illegals here,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), “but doing nothing in the way of helping construct the wall or give the resources that our Border Patrol agents need to do their job.”
Similarly, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) charged the Biden administration with deliberately weakening America’s borders in a powerful Senate speech last month. “This is by design. This is not accidental,” he said. “The policies that have been put in place at the border are to encourage people to cross the border knowing full well they won’t actually be deported.” How can the Biden administration deport people if the Border Patrol does not have enough beds to keep illegal immigrants overnight?
That brings us back to the key question behind this convoluted story: Is this an unreported detention facility scandal, hypocritically covered up by the legacy media to shield the Biden administration from public criticism? Or is it an act of falsehood in service of the Biden administration’s border sabotage, designed to facilitate the influx of future Democratic voters?
Neither answer bodes well for the American people.