I don't know if its an artifact of cable news, cowardice, or genuine ignorance but there's a countercurrent developing in the discussion around the disgustingly-named "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant cages in the Florida Everglades and I think it's important to nip arguments that it's not *really* a "concentration camp" in the bud. So I cleaned up a post from earlier this week, threw some links in, and got into how the camp is run, the efforts Trump and DeSantis are undertaking to keep much of this a secret, and what conditions are like inside.

https://www.ninaillingworth.com/2025/07/18/recommended-reading-yes-its-a-concentration-camp/

Recommended Reading: Yes, It’s A Concentration Camp

"I think the debate over whether or not “Alligator Alcatraz” officially qualifies as a “real” concentration camp is both farcical and insulting. However you feel about longtime DNC minion Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as a politician, it is inarguable that she’s objectively describing a type of concentration camp. With dozens of brown bodies packed into small cages, inadequate access to washroom facilities and water, purposely reduced caloric counts inadequate for the preservation of healthy adults, exposure to elements and insects; what else would you call what we’re doing in the Florida swamp besides running a concentration camp? It’s not an accident Wasserman-Schultz references America’s dark history with the term “interment camps” but I think she’s still being too generous to the Trump regime here; this is a camp of cages for cruelly concentrating migrants without any concern for their wellbeing at all – a concentration camp, to be precise."

From near the conclusion of Justice Barrett's opinion for the Court, on behalf of the 6 conservatives:

"#FederalCourts do not exercise general #oversight of the #ExecutiveBranch; they resolve cases & controversies consistent with the authority #Congress has given them. When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its #power, too."

TOTAL BS!

#Trump #SCOTUS #judiciary #authority #BirthrightCitizenship #immigration #law

The Army’s conduct during these deployments was far from flawless. In addition to credible allegations of #ExcessiveForce, the #Army carried out extensive #domestic #surveillance, often tracking #civilians & #protest groups without legal #authority or #oversight. And although its own use of force was generally restrained, its involvement helped blur the line between #military & #police roles.

“It’s the same move a second time,” Sen #ElizabethWarren said in an interview. “Why is the industry here asking for regulation? They want the gold star of US government oversight without really having significant #oversight.”

Warren is not alone. Sen #ChuckSchumer of #NY, the Democratic leader, has also opposed the bill consistently.

#Senate passage came over the fierce objections of #Democrats, who warned that the measure lacked strict-enough #regulations or #oversight to prevent abuses, including
anti-#corruption rules that would bar #Trump & his family from continuing to #profit from #cryptocurrency.

The bill still must be passed by the #House & signed by Trump. But the 68-30 vote in the Senate marked the first time the chamber has approved major cryptocurrency #legislation.

The adviser, Dennis Kirk, was placed within the #watchdog office on May 9, but reports to the #DNI, acc/to one of the officials….

Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), the leading #House #Oversight #Democrat, sent a letter to Acting #Intelligence Community #InspectorGeneral Tamara A. Johnson Thurs, demanding information about the appointment of Kirk, who was an adviser in the Office of Personnel Management during #Trump’s first term & co-author of a #Project2025 chapter on the federal workforce.

The protections in place, known as the #FloresSettlement, largely limit to 72hrs the amount of time that #child #immigrants traveling alone or with family & detained by the US Border Patrol can be kept in #CBP #custody. They also ensure the children are kept in #safe & #sanitary conditions.

The Flores settlement is named for a Salvadoran girl, Jenny Flores, whose lawsuit alleging widespread mistreatment of children in custody in the 1980s prompted #oversight.

“That responsibility is incompatible with at-will removal by the president, because such unfettered authority would make the board & its members beholden to the very authority it is supposed to oversee on behalf of #Congress & the American people,” wrote Judge Walton, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

Lawmakers, the judge wrote, clearly intended to shield board members from arbitrary removal by a president before their terms were up. He noted that #Congress created the bipartisan panel to oversee government counterterrorism actions & policies on the recommendation of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277733/gov.uscourts.dcd.277733.24.0.pdf

The lawmakers visited the detention center May 9 to conduct an #oversight visit. They said they were allowed inside to tour the 1,000-bed facility, which opened this month amid resistance from local ofcls who are opposed to #Trump’s #deportation efforts.

McIver & the other lawmakers, as well as the mayor’s supporters, formed a physical circle around Baraka, video shows, leading to jostling & a confusing scrum that the Trump admin has sought to cast as a violent mob attack on federal officers.

“The charges against me are purely political—they mischaracterize & distort my actions, & are meant to #criminalize & deter #legislative #oversight,” she said.

#AlinaHabba also announced that she had dismissed a misdemeanor charge for trespass against #RasBaraka, the Democratic mayor of #Newark, whose arrest had precipitated the flare-up w/federal agents after he sought to join the lawmakers on their tour of the detention center.

“Ranking Members, Reps Jayapal, Crockett, Scanlon, Nadler, Johnson, and McBath, release a joint statement on the Department of Justice’s unfounded targeting of Rep McIves:

#NYC has held onto its control of #RikersIsland w/white knuckles — struggling to show progress & reaching the brink of losing #oversight of the #jails as critics of the system called for an outside authority. Conditions have not improved, acc/to lawyers for the plaintiffs & the federal monitor.

NYC has spent >$500k per inmate annually in recent years, acc/to city data, well beyond what other large cities have spent, & yet detainees still sometimes go without food or proper medical care.

The order comes nearly a decade after #NYC’s jails, which include the #RikersIsland complex, fell under #federal #oversight in the settlement of a #ClassAction lawsuit. The agreement focused on curbing the use of #force & #violence toward both inmates & correction officers. A court-appointed monitor issued regular reports on the persistent mayhem.

…#State Dept staffers say they fear a selective disclosure of documents…could be distorted to fit any…narrative #DarrenBeattie, #Rubio, or others create.

Weaponizing any speech…by deeming it #disinformation is not only ironic, says Jankowicz—it will also have “chilling effects” on anyone who conducts disinformation #research, & it will result in “less #oversight & #transparency over #tech #platforms, …adversarial activities, [&]…people who are legitimately trying to disenfranchise US voters.”

This felt, they say, like a powerful misuse of the public records system—or as Jankowicz, the #disinformation researcher & fmr DHS ofcl, put it, “weaponizing the access [Beattie] has to internal communications in order to upend people’s lives.”

“It stank to high heaven,” one staffer says. “This could be used for #retaliation. This could be used for any kind of improper purposes, & our #oversight committees should be informed of this.”