Taxpayer Dollars Fund Luxury Detention Centers for Illegal Immigrants

ATLANTA -- Illegal immigration costs taxpayers an estimated $100 billion a year. Georgia picks up nearly $2.5 billion of that bill. The Federal Government is ordering changes on the taxpayers' dime. Channel Two Action News anchor Justin Farmer traveled back to Arizona to look at the new upgrades.
The list of upgrades is long. Better food, movie nights and much more. Critics say the changes are turning the facilities into country club holding centers that reward people who break the law.
Farmer visited a detention center near Florence, Ariz., where illegal immigrants are treated well compared to most jails. Only high-risk detainees are held in actual cells. The rest live in dorm-like areas. They are allowed to spend hours outside playing soccer.
Illegal detainees eat three meals a day. They are provided with free dental and health care, including surgery, all at the taxpayers' expense.
"Some of these detainees have never seen a medical provider in their life. We detect diseases they never knew they had," said Eduardo Preciado of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The federal government has ordered some of their privately run detention centers to provide more amenities for illegal immigrants.
E-mails obtained by the Houston Chronicle reveal that federal authorities have ordered the following changes at the holding centers for illegal immigrants: More variety in menus, fresh veggie bars, self-serve beverages, continental breakfast on weekends, movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance and cooking classes, tutoring and computer training.
The facilities are also to be made more welcoming with new paint, bedding and house plants. Human rights groups think the changes are overdue, claiming that illegal immigrants should not be treated as criminals.
"We find that in the U.S., individuals are not getting speedy access to justice, not being able to apply for refugee status and that children are being locked up," said Jared Feuer of Amnesty International.
"They should be in jail. How do we treat people stopped for DUI? Do we put them up at a Holiday Inn and give them a veggie bar?" said Michael Cutler a retired Immigration and Naturalization Service Agent.
Cutler said he thinks federal agents think the new rules send the wrong message to lawbreakers. "If you come to the U.S and violate our borders and our laws, not only should you expect them to get away with it, the alleged leaders of our country want you to be rewarded for it," said Cutler.
The most controversial changes involve security. Letting low-risk detainees roam free in street clothes, the security downgrade has outraged many in law enforcement.
"When they come to my jail, they don't get all that. I have 200 in tents," said Sheriff Joe Arpiao of Maricopa County.
Arpiao has been called the toughest sheriff in America, having cracked down on illegal immigration in the Phoenix area. He told Channel Two Action News that he is amazed that the federal government is making crossing the border illegally a low-risk proposition.
"What do they have to lose? They come across the border, get deported and come and cross again. When they detain you, you live in a nice place, better than Mexico. Hey, that is a great deal and get a free ride back," said Arpiao.
Illegal immigrants and regular inmates at the Maricopa jail are housed in tents, wear pink underwear and eat low-cost but nutritious food.
Sheriff Joe told Channel Two Action News that he thinks the federal government needs to operate holding centers for illegal immigrants like he does. Arpiao said that it is a great savings to taxpayers while encouraging inmates not to return.
"Where is the deterrence? I'm deterrence because I throw them in jail," said Arpiao.
Most of the detention center upgrades have not been implemented yet.

Luxury? Count me in! Come get me ICE!

I am so tired of this SH*T! Whether you like it or not we are at war guys! I'ts time start acknowledging IT!..

This is somewhat infuriating in the degree of blatant veiled bigotry and racism. Luxurious imprisonment? People have died in these centers, and a quick look up in they ny times even shows medical negligence resulting in deaths. Murderers receive better treatment in jail than do undocumented workers trying to support themselves, and those mentioned in this article seem to endorse it and think it's right, just based on where they came from, not their actions. And when a person is judged not by their actions but by the color of their skin, something is terribly wrong. And I'm not the first to state that. MLK expressed something similar before. Where are we now?

Hey dumbass, get your head out of your behind for once. The people getting the "luxury" were paying tax and living their life normally until ICE decides to do their little raid in the middle of the night.

Oh but wait, let's go by your idea, let's detain the husband who's trying doing everything he can to provide for his family, let's put him in with the gangsters and the murderers, let's starve him and only let him have soup twice a day, 4 days a week, let's make sure he feels as miserable as possible because trying to provide for your family is a serious crime!!!

But hey, the American immigration "system" couldn't be possibly be at fault for this right? We can't possibly blame the HUGE backlog in I-485's and I-130's and other paperworsk (10-15 years) that forces immigrants to go in illegally to provide food for their families. We can't possibly blame the shortage of judges for the immigrants having to wait for excessive amount of time in jail to get their day in court.

No no no, we can't blame the immigration system, this is all the immigrants' fault.

Dumbass.

Lol, well I guess they have to be humane cause all the ppl that they got there are citizens of another country and the last thing they want is to have the UN telling them that they are treating them in a in-humane manner... which then would probly cause a war... I mean remember Mexicos cake war? The US is gonna have a burrito war, among many other delicious foreign foods... noodles and gyros anyone?

My brother was physically/mentally abused and drugged against his will in a detention center. He ate, slept and went to the bathroom facing 20+ people at any given time. Awesome, how luxurious..

"More variety in menus, fresh veggie bars, self-serve beverages, continental breakfast on weekends, movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance and cooking classes, tutoring and computer training."
^^Specially Florence, which is one of the most known jails in AZ. Bullcrap. Next thing they're going to say is that "these illegals" have the opportunity to finish a college degree inside jail--sign me up for that.