Modern Day Inhumane Camp

The suffocating, putrid smell of urine and human waste and sweat attack my nostrils, jolts me awake on the floor. The overhead lights sear my retina. How long was I out? I glance at my wrist. No watch. No concept of time. Hell, a small ventilation window mocks me eight feet overhead. Hard to determine the time of day. My stomach groans with emptiness. I know. Why am I here? A man with black curly hair sobs, repeating over and over words I cannot comprehend. He probably misses his family, like I do. Others also sob silently. No privacy. No beds. No means of obtaining proper rest. The lack of food and sleep for three days takes their toll and my body struggles to move. Burning hunger curls inside me like smoke. When are we getting any food? I try to recall my last meal, however my weakened state and the extreme heated conditions of the area create a harsh obstacle for thinking. Mind-numbing silence doesn’t help either. No one dares to speak. Either we lack the energy to talk, or fear stole our voices.

The metal door opens and four black masked armed individuals in a dark uniform enter the room. “Time to eat!” a male voice booms.

I feel the wave of people move towards the walls of our trapped area, forming a line. “Food,” I hear people whisper in a feeble voice. My body floats towards them, falling in line. People pick up a paper plate with a strange dark substance stacked on it and a dinner roll. Everyone keeps their eyes on the ground, refusing to look at the masked people near the entrance. What are they serving us today? As I drift closer to the black uniformed distributor, the food on the plate remains unrecognizable. My turn eventually arrives. I stand in front of a massive stature of a man. A patch of a US badge on his shirt. He slops the food on the plate next to a dinner roll and waits for me to take it. I pick it up without uttering a word of gratitude and join the group of people craving any source of nourishment.

No utensils? Others pick at the food with their hands, devouring the mysterious food on the plate like it is their final meal. Discarding my pride, I dig in, starting with the roll. My teeth strike the hard, stale bread. I slather it with my saliva, but dehydration prevents me from forming enough to soften it. I eat what I can and turn to the dark substance. Scooping up a heap with my hand, something falls back on my plate. It’s moving. Inching its way to hide back into the remaining food on my plate. What the hell? Is that… The insect stretching less than five centimeters blends in with the color of the white plate. My hesitation in dining allows more to fall from the handful of slop near my mouth. Maggots. My stomach twists with anger like it did for the past few days. I need to eat. I know I do. I can’t. I glance around the area and watch others shoving their mouths with the meal. Vomit climbs up my throat, causing a gag reflex. Hunger punches reminders to eat. I close my eyes and hold my breath, visualizing a succulent steak dinner at a restaurant I ate at before they brought me here. I swallow my first handful. The food falls from my hand onto the floor. Those watching me quickly react to the fallen food and attack it like vultures over a carcass. I turn to hack out what I just ate. I miss home. My family. Meals. Why am I here?

I wish I could say I’m writing a fictional piece and this is some world I concocted while I slept, but the reality is… this is really happening in some detention centers (I mean, concentration camps) in the United States TODAY! A country that once prided itself on being the land of the free. Six months after the Trump Regime took over the oval office, there has been a push for mass deportations. Recently, the Regime funded the Ice and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with billions of US tax dollars to ramp up efforts to deport “undocumented migrants.” While Trump ran on deporting only criminals, US citizens quickly discovered the Regime targets any immigrant in the US. Immigrants were supposed to be detained in these limited-spaced centers for only a few hours, but many ICE agents keep people for days until deporting them to a foreign country. Sadly, many of the migrants captured have no criminal record and denied due process to prove their innocence. This constitutionally violates rights. These inhumane conditions are absent in mainstream media. We need to continue to spread awareness of what occurs in these camps. If we don’t stand up for innocent migrants, then who is going to stop the Regime from targeting US citizens next? Spoiler: the Regime has already detained US citizens and has been open about targeting more “homegrowns.”

What can we do?

-Protest! Join a local protest group and find out what you can do to volunteer. You do not have to stand in the crowd, there are many behind-the-scenes opportunities you can volunteer for. Even donating money to help pay for water or food to support the protesters is a start.

-Contact your representative and senator and continue to document your voice and how you feel about ICE’s control over the country.

-Share this post. Let my words be your voice. You can copy and paste the link to your social media to spread awareness of the conditions they forced migrants into.

We must not give up. Our country is at stake and it will take all of us to unite and resist in order to save our country.