President Donald Trump's own inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security revealed damning new details this week about the tiny cages detainees at the Florida-based "Alligator Alcatraz" were subjected to — tiny, wire-framed enclosures detainees could be confined in for multiple hours, allegedly exposed to mosquitoes and the elements outside, either as punishment or to manage their "stress."
While hardcore Trump supporters defended or disputed what was revealed in the report, the image of the cages triggered revulsion and outrage online, with many prominent commentators likening them to crimes against humanity.
"In Alligator Alcatraz, detainees were being punished with something called 'the box' an enclosed space in which they were shackled and left outdoors for hours, exposed to the heat and mosquitoes," wrote Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. "There’s now a photos [sic]. Amnesty International determined this constituted torture."
"Evil," said former Illinois Republican Congressman turned Democratic anti-Trump activist Joe Walsh.
"Will need Nuremberg for ICE," wrote former GOP speechwriter Tim Miller, referring to the landmark trials that convicted Nazi war criminals after World War II.
"We don’t allow this for murderers, terrorists, or rapists convicted of severe crimes after a jury trial," wrote former trial attorney and Ukraine veteran John Jackson. "This is wildly illegal and barbaric. It’s why people call these gulags. Shocking. The people behind these need their own cages."
