This article in the June 1 Los Angeles Times Opinion section is worth reading for some of the statistics it provides:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sun ... 0385.story

There are 400 immigrant detention centers across the country? This system processed 300,000 people in 2007? People are detained FOR MONTHS?

Personally, I feel the subject of the story is a tragedy. I don't want prisoners to suffer, and I want them to be provided medical care. But I don't want them in prison! I don't want them HERE! How freakin hard is it to put a guy on a bus back to Tijuana, or Juarez, or wherever? You're either here illegally, or you're not. When you're arrested, or when you're arraigned, if you make some claim that you're not illegal, transfer that guy to a real federal prison, give him a real hearing with a public defender, and if the dude lied, put him in the desert with Arapaio for a year. Everyone else, get on the bus.