US—It’s unclear whether it is a cruel form of retribution for the children in confinement at the US border or whether it’s a mass form of psychological torture but kids are being thrown in cages all across the country this week.

“Let’s be clear, these are concentration camps,” US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. “We need to close the camps.”

“They’re having guns pointed at them all the time. It’s horrifying!” AOC added.

Former President Barack Obama initially prosecuted only those found illegally entering the US more than once. Caught off guard by an influx of asylum seekers from Central America, his administration in 2014 established then-legally permitted family detention centers to hold parents and children—potentially indefinitely—in cages as a means of deterring others. And if kids arrived without their parents or in the hands of human traffickers or if their parents were criminally dangerous, they were held alone in cages.

Now, it appears that this policy has been extended to children all across the country, regardless of immigration status.

“They’re dying in there! It’s like mini Guantanamo Bays in every American city. We must end the madness!” Ocasio-Cortez said.

A representative for the San Diego detention centers, Louis Viejo, said that the detainees are being treated “very well for the sheep they are.”

“You need to understand. These cages are for their protection,” Viejo said.

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