Today’s U.S. detention centers are rife with stories of inhumane physical facilities, insufficient access to medical care, and conditions that can cause profound psychological distress. Let’s look at two instances reported in John Washington’s opinion piece for The Guardian, “Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps.”
The first is a woman in Arizona, who has been detained for 16 months without proper medical care to treat her leukemia, has reportedly lost more than 70 pounds, and is regularly vomiting blood.
The second is a report detailing just how cramped detention centers can be, with 86 people at one point held in a small room—a “closet of humanity that smelled of sweat, urine and feces,” according to a description in the article.
This picture of the squalid conditions wouldn’t be complete without noting the sacred humans who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Since the inception of Trump’s presidency in January 2025, more than 50 people have died. Ten of these custody deaths have been reported as suicide, according to an Associated Press investigation.
As an ardent follower of Jesus, my heart aches and my gut wrenches for these mistreated people. Yes, these are people in detention—not subhumans. Everyone is created in the image of God and, as Jesus taught me in Matthew 25 to invite the stranger in, each one is worthy of dignity, respect, and humane treatment during their processing.
Questions to answer
Is my country demonstrating and achieving Jesus’ wishes with what has been reported on current detention facilities and conditions? No, it’s not. It’s abhorrently and woefully inadequate and dehumanizing.
What can be done to improve the detention environment? The juxtaposition of Jesus’ ways and the world’s “man’s inhumanity to man” is striking. Improving detainees’ physical and psychological environments seems almost insurmountable. Are we to just throw up our Christian nation’s hands then and give up?
I believe a tenable start to cure the ills of immigration detention centers is to send as few people there as possible. There are other viable, humane options to address the undocumented population in the U.S.
Congress has appropriated $240 billion—more than $700 per person in the U.S.—since Trump took office for additional ICE personnel, border enforcement, detention centers, and deportations. Conversely, Congress has not appropriated any money specifically to expand personnel processing entries or processing applications for asylum seekers.
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They have also stripped Temporary Protected Status and other categories of protection from immigrants who are here legally, follow the rules, and provide essential societal functions through their vocations. How can that be in a nation of law and order?
Not every immigrant caught in the deportation quagmire is a violent criminal. Far from it. Data from the Department of Homeland Security shows, as of the end of July, 71 percent of detainees had no criminal conviction. At the end of August, reports found those with violent criminal convictions represented less than 4 percent. There is no crime and no due process.
Better solutions
There are better solutions than rounding up and holding in inhumane conditions—and at great expense to the taxpayer—people who are otherwise law-abiding and contributing to their communities and economies.
One option is the Dignity Act, a bipartisan bill that would allow individuals who pay a hefty fine for their civil violation of being unlawfully present and who meet other criteria to earn a pathway to legal status.
Far from detractors’ accusations of “amnesty,” such a solution would require accountability and restitution, while also honoring the dignity and worth of each individual.
Congress must avoid falling into the age-old politically expedient trap of piecemeal solutions. Viable permanent alternatives, such as enacting the Dignity Act, are available.
Christians unite. Join me in using your collective political voices to speak for those unable to speak for themselves.
Brent Neuenfeldt is a retiree based in Fort Worth. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.
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