@anirvan

“Regardless of your political leanings, I think most people would agree these are the kind of bad situations that should be addressed by the nation’s top #CivilRights enforcer,” Noureldin said.

…The exodus will hamper its ability to carry out essential functions, such as battling #SexualHarassment in #housing, #discrimination against #disabled people, & the improper use of restraints & seclusions against #students in schools, said Omar Noureldin, a fmr snr atty in the #CivilRights Division & President Joe #Biden appointee who left in Jan.

…The cases against #Louisiana & #SouthCarolina were brought by a unit of the #DOJ’s #CivilRights Division tasked with enforcing laws that guarantee #ReligiousFreedom, access to #ReproductiveHealth services, constitutional policing, & the rights of people in state & local institutions, including #jails, #prisons & #healthcare facilities for people with #disabilities.

#CivilRights lawyers who have monitored the cases said the move is another sign of the #Trump administration’s retreat from the department’s mission of protecting the rights of vulnerable groups. Since January, Trump’s #DOJ has dropped #RacialDiscrimination lawsuits, abandoned investigations of #PoliceMisconduct & canceled #oversight of troubled #LawEnforcement agencies.

#Louisiana’s prison system has kept thousands of incarcerated people behind bars for weeks, months or sometimes >1 year after they were supposed to be released, records show. And the #DOJ accused #SouthCarolina of institutionalizing thousands of people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses—sometimes for decades—rather than provide services that would allow them to live in less restricted settings, as is their right under federal #law.

The matching firsthand accounts across multiple interviews offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the mega prison, where inmates are denied access to lawyers & almost all contact with the outside world — & where about 14,000 Salvadorans remain incarcerated. Few detainees have ever left #CECOT, & fewer have spoken publicly of their experience there.

They called it “La Isla” — The Island — the cell where #Venezuelans *deported* from the #US by the #Trump admin said they suffered some of the worst #abuse of their 125 days in #ElSalvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or #CECOT.

Building the facility in the #Everglades & naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents, #DeSantis & other #Republican ofcls have said.

The #Trump admin has delighted in the area’s remoteness & the fact that it is teeming w/ pythons & alligators. It hopes to convey a message to detainees & the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the #immigration laws of the #US are not followed.

“I think you’re going to see the numbers go up dramatically,” #DeSantis said during a news conference near the #Florida #detention center.

Ofcls said that 2 or 3 flights have departed from the site so far, but they didn’t say where those flights headed.

Critics have condemned the facility as #cruel & #inhumane. DeSantis & other #Republican ofcls have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support #Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

@theintercept @dgoldsmith

Of course, #TheCrueltyIsThePoint

@georgetakei @alexlubertozzi

In phone interviews, several detainees described infrequent showers, meals that amounted to little more than snacks, other detainees falling ill with flulike symptoms & sleep deprivation. They described unrest over a lack of information, recreation & access to medication.

The men at the new #immigrant #detention center in the #Florida #Everglades have no pencils, books or TV. The lights stay on through the night. When it rains, which is nearly every day during summer, the #tents housing detainees spring leaks & bugs crawl in.

@charleskeener.bsky.social @Lazarou