“Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski got choked up while reporting on the inhumane conditions migrants are reportedly being forced to live in while detained at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz facility.
“This is in Florida. If you’re in Florida, don’t turn away,” Brzezinski said during the MS NOW news program’s Wednesday episode. “I just want to make sure you know that you’re paying for this. Your taxpayer dollars are paying for this torture for these people being swept off the street, migrants.”
Brzezinski’s emotions were in response to the alleged revelations about the detention center that human rights organization Amnesty International released this month, which included claims that Alligator Alcatraz doesn’t comply with international human law and standards. The report states that the facility, which can hold around 3,000 people, is forcing detainees to live in “unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping.” In addition, it shared that people have “limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water and lack of privacy.”
Brzezinski asserted that it doesn’t matter if a person shares American citizenship or not, no one should be subjected to that type of mistreatment.
“When you’re in America, whether you’re undocumented, whether you’ve committed a crime, whether you are whoever you are, there is a process and you have rights,” Brzezinski argued. “And we don’t treat people like animals in America. We don’t torture people. We don’t disappear them. We don’t kidnap them. We do not treat them unlawfully. Again, we don’t treat them like animals and torture them.”
She then pointed her attention to Floridians, calling on those who care to take action with their voices and vote.
“You’re paying for that in Florida,” Brzezinski said. “So, good on you. Your vote matters. And if you don’t like paying for that, you should do something about it with your vote. If you don’t like funding the torture of innocent people or people who cannot defend themselves who are in there with no voice, look in the mirror and think about your voice.”
Watch the full “Morning Joe” segment below:
