Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) let fly recently on X with his "outrage" at the "moral stain on this country" that "52 people have died in ICE detention" during President Donald Trump's second term in the White House.
"The conditions in ICE detention centers are outrageous. Worms. Standing sewage water. Measles outbreaks. 52 people have died so far. No American — no matter what your view is on immigration — should stand for this inhumanity," Murphy declared.
"And it's outrageous that we allow these conditions to exist. A further outrage is the fact that these prisoners, many of which are here legally, people that shouldn't be in detention at all, have no access to lawyers," he continued, noting that when he recently visited an ICE facility in Texas, he was not allowed to enter it.
"But one of the things they didn't want me to see was inside these massive detention centers that hold thousands of immigrants there's only like two or three or four rooms for lawyer consultations," he said.
One wonders how Murphy knows about the conditions inside that Texas ICE facility that he was not allowed to enter, to say nothing of whether it is true that there is "no access to lawyers" or access to "like two or three or four rooms" in the "massive" center.
But there is an even more fundamental problem here, as pointed out by the fact-obsessed crew at Just Facts Daily (JFD), who did what apparently neither Murphy nor his staff did, which was to check the death rate in ICE facilities and compare it with other relevant measures:
"IN FACT, the age-comparable fatality rate of the general U.S. population is several times higher than people in ICE detention, and deaths related to lax immigration enforcement are at least 90 times greater than deaths in ICE custody," JFD reports. And here are some of the key specifics:
• During the second Trump administration, the average annual fatality rate for people in ICE detention has been 70 per 100,000 people at an average age of 45 years old.
• In contrast, the average annual fatality rate for 45-year-olds in the U.S. is about 326 per 100,000 people, or 5 times the ICE custody death rate under Trump.
• An average of 15 people per year have died in ICE detention during the first and second Trump administrations.
• In comparison, criminal aliens have committed at least 611 homicides per year in the U.S. for decades, or 41 times the ICE custody death rate during Trump’s presidency.
• Furthermore, an average of 732 people per year died while illegally crossing the border during the 2 years of available data during Biden’s presidency, or 49 times the ICE detention death rate during Trump’s presidency.
• Summarizing the data above, none of the ICE custody deaths are necessarily Trump’s fault, and prior failures to enforce immigration laws fueled illegal immigration that killed people at 90 times the rate of ICE detention deaths during Trump’s presidency.
Don't miss that last JFD fact. Failing to enforce immigration laws, as happened for four years under then-President Joe Biden, resulted in people dying at 90 times the frequency of people passing away in ICE facilities under Trump.
And it turns out that Murphy's only source appears to be the "Dying in Detention" analysis published a few weeks ago by Human Rights Watch (HRW). But the senator simply cited the figure of 52 deaths without noting that it represented deaths from all causes, including some that had nothing to do with conditions inside an ICE detention facility.
And the purpose of Murphy's juxtaposition seems clear in this reference: "Worms. Standing sewage water. Measles outbreaks. 52 people have died so far." How's that for encouraging readers to conclude ICE facilities have no regard for maintaining healthy environments without definitively making that accusation?
Finally, let's not forget the fact that, while HRW has done much good work over the entirety of its existence, it has in recent years demonstrated a willingness to allow itself to be used as a propaganda tool for the worst antisemitic terrorists on the face of the Earth.
As quoted by NGO Monitor in the wake of the horrendous Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and wanton slaughter of more than 1,200 men, women and infants:
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is routinely described as one of the world’s most powerful non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but it is tainted by a biased political agenda and troubling questions about the ethics of its fundraising.
The salience of these problems has only increased in the wake of a high-visibility campaign following the October 7th Hamas massacre, during which 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and 240 more were taken hostage.
In response to the October 7th atrocities, HRW officials rushed to condemn Israel’s military campaign with repeated accusations of war crimes, apartheid, collective punishment, and similar terms. For a senior employee, who had worked at HRW for 13 years, this response crossed a moral red line, and she circulated a bitter email, confirming the pervasive bias and lack of credibility that have previously been detailed by the organisation’s critics (including this author).
In parallel, the publication of a leaked document appeared to show that HRW received $3.75 million from Qatar in 2018, a conflict of interest that casts further doubt on the organisation’s commitment to its stated mission.
Hmmm. Let's not forget that Murphy is among those establishment Democrats in the Senate who have open arms for the insurgent Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which is openly and rabidly anti-Israel.
“I want us to be a big tent party. I mean, I’ve been saying this for years. I think that it’s actually a sign of a party that is alive and growing when there’s a contest of ideas inside the party,” Murphy said during a June appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, according to The Hill.
One wonders how much room there will be in Murphy's big tent for the 4% of Connecticut voters who are Jewish.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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