SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Conditions at migrant detention camps at the southern border are only going to get worse, journalist Andrea Pitzer told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday night. (Image: screenshot)
Predicting Even More Horrifying Conditions, Historical Journalist Describes Parallels Between Trump Migrant Detention and Concentration Camps
The administration's treatment of migrants is part of a pattern of dehumanization that has disturbing precedent for what could come next
Jun 07, 2019
Don't expect the camps housing migrants on the border to close anytime soon--if anything, expect conditions to get worse.
That was the message from journalist Andrea Pitzer during an appearance with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday night. Pitzer, whose book "One Long Night" is an exhaustive history of the uses of concentration camps over the last century, said that the lessons of the past indicate that President Donald Trump's war on migrants isn't anywhere close to being over.
"My research showed pretty conclusively that these camps don't just close themselves," said Pitzer, who stressed that the usefulness of the camps for governments targeting marginalized groups for abuse is one of the main reasons for their staying power.
"They're going to get bigger and conditions inside them are going to get worse," Pitzer said.
Pitzer's appearance on "All In" came after a week of disturbing news from U.S. detention camps on the southern border and beyond. On May 31, Common Dreams reported that migrants were being forced into dangerously overcrowded conditions in an El Paso detention center, with people climbing onto toilets to breathe easily. On June 1, the first day of Pride Month, a trans woman from El Salvador died in ICE custody.
Common Dreams reporters also detailed Wednesday that the Trump administration is canceling "education, recreation, and legal services for unaccompanied migrant children in federal shelters across the country," and on Thursday described how former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly is profiting off of child detentions--a policy he helped develop while in the White House--in the private sector.
The administration's treatment of migrants is part of a pattern of dehumanization that has disturbing precedent for what could come next, said Pitzer.
Of particular concern, Pitzer added, is that while the number of people coming to the border is increasing, the administration appears uninterested in and incapable of handling the influx.
"They don't seem to have a plan on how to deal with this, other than to punish the refugees, the asylum seekers," said Pitzer, "or to have Mexico take care of it."
Pitzer, who noted the latter solution was not very realistic, added that without a clear plan for migrant detention, conditions in the camps were sure to get worse.
"I expect to see contagious diseases, malnutrition in some cases, and mental health crises," Pitzer said. "We're going to have that very soon; there might be reports already coming of that."
Watch the full segment:
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Don't expect the camps housing migrants on the border to close anytime soon--if anything, expect conditions to get worse.
That was the message from journalist Andrea Pitzer during an appearance with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday night. Pitzer, whose book "One Long Night" is an exhaustive history of the uses of concentration camps over the last century, said that the lessons of the past indicate that President Donald Trump's war on migrants isn't anywhere close to being over.
"My research showed pretty conclusively that these camps don't just close themselves," said Pitzer, who stressed that the usefulness of the camps for governments targeting marginalized groups for abuse is one of the main reasons for their staying power.
"They're going to get bigger and conditions inside them are going to get worse," Pitzer said.
Pitzer's appearance on "All In" came after a week of disturbing news from U.S. detention camps on the southern border and beyond. On May 31, Common Dreams reported that migrants were being forced into dangerously overcrowded conditions in an El Paso detention center, with people climbing onto toilets to breathe easily. On June 1, the first day of Pride Month, a trans woman from El Salvador died in ICE custody.
Common Dreams reporters also detailed Wednesday that the Trump administration is canceling "education, recreation, and legal services for unaccompanied migrant children in federal shelters across the country," and on Thursday described how former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly is profiting off of child detentions--a policy he helped develop while in the White House--in the private sector.
The administration's treatment of migrants is part of a pattern of dehumanization that has disturbing precedent for what could come next, said Pitzer.
Of particular concern, Pitzer added, is that while the number of people coming to the border is increasing, the administration appears uninterested in and incapable of handling the influx.
"They don't seem to have a plan on how to deal with this, other than to punish the refugees, the asylum seekers," said Pitzer, "or to have Mexico take care of it."
Pitzer, who noted the latter solution was not very realistic, added that without a clear plan for migrant detention, conditions in the camps were sure to get worse.
"I expect to see contagious diseases, malnutrition in some cases, and mental health crises," Pitzer said. "We're going to have that very soon; there might be reports already coming of that."
Watch the full segment:
Don't expect the camps housing migrants on the border to close anytime soon--if anything, expect conditions to get worse.
That was the message from journalist Andrea Pitzer during an appearance with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday night. Pitzer, whose book "One Long Night" is an exhaustive history of the uses of concentration camps over the last century, said that the lessons of the past indicate that President Donald Trump's war on migrants isn't anywhere close to being over.
"My research showed pretty conclusively that these camps don't just close themselves," said Pitzer, who stressed that the usefulness of the camps for governments targeting marginalized groups for abuse is one of the main reasons for their staying power.
"They're going to get bigger and conditions inside them are going to get worse," Pitzer said.
Pitzer's appearance on "All In" came after a week of disturbing news from U.S. detention camps on the southern border and beyond. On May 31, Common Dreams reported that migrants were being forced into dangerously overcrowded conditions in an El Paso detention center, with people climbing onto toilets to breathe easily. On June 1, the first day of Pride Month, a trans woman from El Salvador died in ICE custody.
Common Dreams reporters also detailed Wednesday that the Trump administration is canceling "education, recreation, and legal services for unaccompanied migrant children in federal shelters across the country," and on Thursday described how former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly is profiting off of child detentions--a policy he helped develop while in the White House--in the private sector.
The administration's treatment of migrants is part of a pattern of dehumanization that has disturbing precedent for what could come next, said Pitzer.
Of particular concern, Pitzer added, is that while the number of people coming to the border is increasing, the administration appears uninterested in and incapable of handling the influx.
"They don't seem to have a plan on how to deal with this, other than to punish the refugees, the asylum seekers," said Pitzer, "or to have Mexico take care of it."
Pitzer, who noted the latter solution was not very realistic, added that without a clear plan for migrant detention, conditions in the camps were sure to get worse.
"I expect to see contagious diseases, malnutrition in some cases, and mental health crises," Pitzer said. "We're going to have that very soon; there might be reports already coming of that."
Watch the full segment:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
LATEST NEWS
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on Building a Movement to Fight 'End Times Fascism'
"We are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world—on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species."
Apr 16, 2025
In a "must-read" piece published Sunday by The Guardian, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor laid out in over 5,000 words the "powerful possibilities for resistance" against the global rise of what they term "end times fascism."
Klein and Taylor began with "the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters ('seasteading') or pro-business 'freedom cities' such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island."
"The first sign that fortunes were shifting came in 2023, when a campaigning Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, promised to hold a contest that would lead to the creation of 10 'freedom cities' on federal lands," they noted. After winning the U.S. presidential contest last November, Trump returned to the Oval Office in January.
As Klein and Taylor detailed:
One might assume that it is contradictory for Trump, elected on a flag-waving "America first" platform, to lend credence to this vision of sovereign territories ruled over by billionaire god-kings. And much has been made of the colorful flame wars between the MAGA mouth-piece Steve Bannon, a proud nationalist and populist, and the Trump-allied billionaires he has attacked as "technofeudalists" who "don't give a flying fuck about the human being"—let alone the nation state. And conflicts inside Trump's awkward, jerry-rigged coalition certainly exist, most recently reaching a boiling point over tariffs. Still, the underlying visions might not be as incompatible as they first appear.
The startup country contingent is clearly foreseeing a future marked by shocks, scarcity, and collapse. Their high-tech private domains are essentially fortressed escape pods, designed for the select few to take advantage of every possible luxury and opportunity for human optimization, giving them and their children an edge in an increasingly barbarous future. To put it bluntly, the most powerful people in the world are preparing for the end of the world, an end they themselves are frenetically accelerating.
That is not so far away from the more mass-market vision of fortressed nations that has gripped the hard right globally, from Italy to Israel, Australia to the United States: In a time of ceaseless peril, openly supremacist movements in these countries are positioning their relatively wealthy states as armed bunkers.
One of Trump's primary campaign promises was "mass deportations," which he has begun delivering on by having plainclothes immigration agents yank foreign students critical of U.S. policy off the streets and sending hundreds of immigrants—many of them seemingly innocent of any crimes—to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The president has pursued this agenda despite expert warnings about the human and economic impacts, and it's not just his anti-migrant effort expected to cause harm on both fronts.
This is an era of climate breakdown, rising risk of nuclear war, skyrocketing inequality, and unregulated artificial intelligence, and "Trump 2.0's economic project is a Frankenstein's monster of the industries driving all of these threats—fossil fuels, weapons, and resource-ravenous cryptocurrency and AI," Klein and Taylor stressed. "Everyone involved in these sectors knows that there is no way to build the artificial mirror world that AI promises to construct without sacrificing this world—these technologies consume too much energy, too many critical minerals, and too much water for the two to coexist in any kind of equilibrium."
While reclaiming the most powerful post in the world, Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires, putting tech leaders willing to give big donations in prominent seats at his inauguration and installing ultrarich individuals—including Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on Earth and the leader of companies including SpaceX—in key positions within his second administration.
"For Musk, Mars has become a secular ark, which he claims is key to the survival of human civilization, perhaps via uploaded consciousnesses to an artificial general intelligence," Klein and Taylor wrote. "Much like religious end-timers who long to escape the corporeal realm, Musk's drive for humanity to become 'multiplanetary' is made possible by his inability to appreciate the multispecies splendor of our only home."
This is the most powerful thing The Guardian has published in years. “In order to make earthly planetary survival possible, some versions of this world need to end.”
[image or embed]
— Vivian Blaxell ( @vivianblaxell.bsky.social) April 13, 2025 at 9:44 AM
That rejection of protecting Earth and its myriad species is key. As Klein and Taylor argued, "The governing ideology of the far right in our age of escalating disasters has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism."
"To bet against the future on this scale—to bank on your bunker—is to betray, on the most basic level, our duties to one another, to the children we love, and to every other life form with whom we share a planetary home," the pair wrote. "This is a belief system that is genocidal at its core and treasonous to the wonder and beauty of this world. We are convinced that the more people understand the extent to which the right has succumbed to the Armageddon complex, the more they will be willing to fight back, realizing that absolutely everything is now on the line."
"Our opponents know full well that we are entering an age of emergency, but have responded by embracing lethal yet self-serving delusions," they continued. "Having bought into various apartheid fantasies of bunkered safety, they are choosing to let the Earth burn. Our task is to build a wide and deep movement, as spiritual as it is political, strong enough to stop these unhinged traitors. A movement rooted in a steadfast commitment to one another, across our many differences and divides, and to this miraculous, singular planet."
Klein and Taylor also offered a solution for how to "break this apocalyptic fever." According to them:
First, we help each other face the depth of the depravity that has gripped the hard right in all of our countries. To move forward with focus, we must first understand this simple fact: We are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world—on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. They are treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants.
Second, we counter their apocalyptic narratives with a far better story about how to survive the hard times ahead without leaving anyone behind. A story capable of draining end times fascism of its gothic power and galvanizing a movement ready to put it all on the line for our collective survival. A story not of end times, but of better times; not of separation and supremacy, but of interdependence and belonging; not of escaping, but staying put and staying faithful to the troubled earthly reality in which we are enmeshed and bound.
"To have a hope of combating the end times fascists, with their ever-constricting and asphyxiating concentric circles of 'ordered love,'" the pair asserted, "we will need to build an unruly open-hearted movement of the Earth-loving faithful: faithful to this planet, its people, its creatures, and to the possibility of a livable future for us all."
The essay has been met with high praise from academics, activists, advocacy groups, journalists, and more, many of whom described it as "essential reading" and "terrifying but ultimately hopeful."
Climate campaigner and writer Bill McKibben called it "the darkest—and in some ways most light-filled—take on our dire moment."
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor offer hope through understanding, allowing us to counter their narratives with a far better story. @naomiaklein.bsky.social @astra.bsky.social
[image or embed]
— The Sanders Institute (@sandersinstitute.bsky.social) April 15, 2025 at 3:25 PM
J. Mijin Cha, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said: "This piece by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor is so sharp in its diagnosis of what we are facing and the way we fight back. We don't fight fascism with fascism-lite."
"What I mean by fascism-lite is the way the Dems have seen migrants, trans people, people of color, and other marginalized people as disposable in this call for 'moderation,'" she added. "You don't get ahead by leaving people behind. We need to have a positive vision. Not just—we aren't as bad as the other side."
Professor Deborah Lupton, leader of the Vitalities Lab at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, wrote on social media, "Read, weep, and then take action."
Progressives Push for Emergency DNC Meeting to Confront 'Dictatorial' Trump
"Step by step, in effect, the regime is proceeding to shred the Constitution of the United States," said the national director of RootsAction. "This is no time for Democratic Party business as usual."
Apr 16, 2025
A pair of grassroots progressive organizations launched a petition on Wednesday imploring the Democratic National Committee to call an emergency meeting to confront the dire threat posed by President Donald Trump's administration, which has trampled laws, disregarded basic constitutional rights, and ignored court rulings as it attempts to impose its far-right agenda on the U.S.
The petition, spearheaded by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and RootsAction, states that the Democratic Party "has failed to confront the urgency of this perilous moment for the future of the United States, as reflected in recent public opinion polls."
"For the sake of the future, we insist that the Democratic National Committee should convene an emergency meeting of all its members—fully open to the public—as soon as possible. Waiting until the next regular meeting in late summer would be irresponsible and unacceptable," the petition continues. "Business as usual must give way to truly bold action that mobilizes against the autocracy that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their cronies are further entrenching every day. The predatory, extreme, and dictatorial actions of the Trump administration call for an all-out commensurate response, which so far has been terribly lacking from the Democratic Party."
"Our urgent message to the DNC is—wake up, this is an emergency."
The petition drive comes amid mounting evidence that the Democratic base is growing increasingly disaffected with the party leadership, particularly in the wake of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) surrender last month on a Republican-authored government funding package.
One survey conducted earlier this month found that 72% of Democratic voters support politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) "who are calling on Democrats to adopt a more aggressive stance towards Trump and his administration." In recent weeks, the progressive duo has drawn massive crowds on its "Fight Oligarchy" tour, which has included stops in deep-red states.
Just 28% of Democratic voters said they prefer "moderate Democrats" over progressives like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
Alan Minsky, PDA's executive director, said Wednesday that "millions upon millions of Americans are doubly appalled."
"They not only are watching the Trump administration stage a coup, but they also feel the political opposition is not doing enough to protect our democratic republic," said Minsky. "We call upon the DNC to hold an emergency meeting so that, like a truly democratic opposition, it can draw upon the idealism of the American people to defend all that is great about our society."
The DNC is currently led by former Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin, who has vocally decried Trump's lawlessness and launched a "People's Cabinet" aimed at countering the Trump administration's right-wing policy agenda and misinformation.
"Donald Trump's disregard for the Supreme Court, the rule of law, and human decency shows the terrifying lengths he will go to fulfill his fantasy of becoming a ' dictator on day one,'" Martin said Tuesday in response to the president's refusal to bring home a wrongly deported Maryland resident. "Now, Trump is threatening to round up American citizens and ship them to foreign prisons without due process."
"This is an all-out assault on our Constitution and our fundamental rights," Martin added, "and we must fight back."
One way for the DNC to fight back, according to PDA and RootsAction, would be for the Democratic governing body to convene an emergency meeting to make clear that the party intends to respond accordingly to the authoritarian Trump threat.
"The daily avalanches of massive abuses and lawless actions by the Trump administration have created what amounts to a state of emergency," said Norman Solomon, national director of RootsAction. "Step by step, in effect, the regime is proceeding to shred the Constitution of the United States. This is no time for Democratic Party business as usual. Our urgent message to the DNC is—wake up, this is an emergency."
Unions Launch Legal Defense Project to 'Rise Up' Against Trump Attack on Federal Workers
"Getting these workers the justice they deserve in the face of this onslaught will take all of us," said the head of the AFL-CIO.
Apr 16, 2025
Amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to slash the size and scope of the federal government, a group of unions and labor movement allies on Wednesday announced the launch of a legal defense network to assist federal workers who have been dismissed by the administration and has already trained hundreds of lawyers as part of the project.
The project, called "Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network," offers federal workers who have been "wrongfully terminated" or are still at their jobs but are concerned about their employment rights the opportunity to connect with free legal support.
The Federal Workers Legal Defense Network has trained over 1,000 lawyers so far to assist workers with pro bono support, Mia Jacobs, the director of media relations for the AFL-CIO, told Common Dreams.
"Attacks on federal workers are attacks on all workers and on the essential services that our communities rely on daily," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler in a statement released Wednesday. "Getting these workers the justice they deserve in the face of this onslaught will take all of us... This new network is a critical tool empowering federal workers to fight back. When we come together, we are stronger than any of us alone."
In addition to the AFL-CIO, the network is supported by several unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Federation of Federal Employees, and the National Treasury Employees Union.
The legal groups like the American Constitution Society, We the Action, and Democracy Forward are partners on the project, as is the civil rights coalition the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Democracy Forward and unions such as AFGE have been among the groups most active in countering the Trump administration through court challenges.
Workers seeking assistance can sign up for a brief, free screening phone call with a lawyer, during which the lawyer will determine whether the network is able to help and offer guidance on possible next steps. Depending on the worker's situation, they may be eligible for a free one hour consultation with a lawyer. Any additional legal services after that point are negotiated directly between the lawyer and the worker and may be free, offered at a reduced cost, or offered at the attorney's normal billing rate, according to the network's website.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, tens of thousands of workers across the federal government have either left their jobs, been placed on leave, or fired as part of the Trump administration's broadside against the federal government. Billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has played a key role in this effort to gut the federal workforce.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has been gutted to the point that it is on its way to completely shutting down, while nine other agencies have lost at least 10% of their staff, according to The New York Times, which reported that the latest available information suggests that the reductions may now impact at least 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers. The Times' tally of "confirmed cuts" includes those who may have been reinstated thanks to legal challenges or agency reversals.
“The Rise Up Network will build on existing efforts to ensure federal workers have the legal support they need to fight back, continue to serve the American people and our Constitution, and support our communities," said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a Wednesday statement.
Most Popular
We cover the issues the corporate media never will.
Please support our journalism.