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Josh Smead @joshsmead.bsky.social
Jul 8, 01:27 PM

Last week I visited Leavenworth to see the largest ICE detention center in the KC metro. I heard firsthand accounts of alleged due process violations, detainees being unable to self-deport for months, and dehumanizing treatment. America must have both secure borders and a humane immigration system.

🎤 Whisper Transcript (en) ⏱ 103s

"I'm standing actually across the border in Kansas. I'm in Leavenworth. Behind me, this is a facility, a core civic facility. This is the largest ICE detainment center in the Kansas City area. It's got about a thousand beds. I don't think they're quite a peak capacity, but they're rolling people through. Inside this facility, they're doing things like deportations at 2 a.m., making people sign forms in English when they don't actually speak English, not giving them food, very little pay for the work that they're doing, really dehumanizing people, which is a hallmark of the Trump administration. But it's very important. There's people out here who are supporting the detainees, and I think it's very important to to point out that not all of us here in America are okay with this. People like me are running for office because we deeply care about immigrants, and you know, it's a strong part of what makes America great. So you're going to keep hearing about this. This is not an issue that's going to go away, and the Trump administration is only going to continue to build more concentration camps to make this bigger and bigger. So in my race in Missouri's 6th District, the Republicans that are running to replace Sam Graves, all the Sam Graves 2.0, they're okay with this. They endorse this. They think that this is an appropriate way to treat immigrants who come to America who want to better themselves. There's people in here who have been here since they were 14, since they were small children. Now they have families. They're staples of their community, and the people on the Republican side, the Sam Graves 2.0s, they all support this, and this is what they think America should be about. It's not, and this November especially, we're going to let them know that we're not okay with it, and we're going to take our voice back."

💬 Discussion

Josh Smead @joshsmead.bsky.social · Jul 6, 09:22 PM

Last week I visited Leavenworth to see the largest ICE detention center in the KC metro. I heard firsthand accounts of alleged due process violations, detainees being unable to self-deport for months, and dehumanizing treatment. America must have both secure borders and a humane immigration system.