Say what you will about cops — even the federal ones — but they have nothing on the people charged with guarding people who have been detained or imprisoned. The cruelty of cops is slightly tempered by the fact that anyone with a cell phone, dash cam, or doorbell surveillance device might catch them in the act. It’s not much a deterrent (and it’s a far better deterrent than police body cameras, ironically enough) but it’s better than the absolute nothing that’s in place in detainment centers, jails, and prisons.

Cops can control their own cameras. Prison guards can control an entire network of cameras. And they’re far more used to dehumanizing people than law enforcement officers on the outside.

So, it’s hardly surprising that the people keeping an eye on the thousands of migrants being imprisoned indefinitely by this administration would be the most inhumane. If citizens stuck in prisons are treated like (diseased) cattle at best, the people dumped into ICE detention centers are treated like something even worse: vermin. That’s a loaded term. And I’m using it correctly when speaking about this administration.