A Fleet of Prison Buses Is Being Deployed to Move Haitian Migrants
First it was Border Patrol agents mounted on horseback. Now it’s prison buses.
The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has quietly dispatched “bus crews” from around the country to Del Rio, Texas, to help transport thousands of Haitian migrants who are camped underneath a bridge along the border, VICE News has learned, after speaking with multiple BOP employees who allege the agency has intentionally tried to avoid leaving a paper trail.
A BOP spokesperson confirmed that the agency “sent approximately 100 staff to provide transportation assistance.” The agency declined to offer further details in response to questions about the scope and purpose of the operation, how the move would affect already short-staffed prisons, and whether the officers are appropriately trained for such a mission.
The BOP staffers who spoke out said their colleagues were ordered to report for duty at the border on short notice and warned that the assignments could last anywhere from two weeks to two months. The staffers involved work on “bus crews,” which typically entails shipping people who’ve been charged with or convicted of federal crimes between jails and prisons.
Andy Kline, the staff union president at the U.S. penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, said eight officers from two bus crews at his institution were among those sent to Del Rio. Kline said BOP buses are equipped with metal cages to lock in prisoners, and questioned whether the Haitians would be subjected to the same security measures.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xawy/fleet-of-prison-buses-moving-haitian-migrants
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