4 ms·

Tom Kiefer documents lives via items seized by border patrol

36 points by edward 7y ago

YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
They threw away insulin as "potentially lethal or nonessential"? I don't understand this. Did they replace the thrown-away medication with other, whose provenance they could check or did they just leave those people without it? For diabetics, that would mean they just left them to die, no? Edit: to clarify I don't believe that diabetics were left to die without insulin and I sure haven't heard anything like that in the news. I'm wondering what is the process in place for people with chronic diseases.
- hprotagonist 7y ago
  the cruelty is, quite obvious by now, the point.
- plumednom 7y ago
  Americans by and large .. hate people who are different than them, and despite it's significant percentage in the general population, there is a lot of hatred towards them because of their language, poverty, and skin color. Your average Border Patrol cop is a racist white supremacist and probably takes joy in knowing they might be sentencing an "illegal" to die by taking away their medications. Good people with emotions and empathy who are capable of critical thinking cannot do that kind of job.
- ptah 7y ago
  possibly they didn't want them to profit from selling the insulin in US https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-buy-insulin-at-a-fraction-of-u-s-cost/ https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-b...
  - deogeo 7y ago
    Doesn't the US have a free trade agreement with Mexico? Then surely such free trade would be covered, no? It couldn't possibly be limited to just corporations?
    - derision 7y ago
      You still have to bring those products in through legal channels
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  > Edit: to clarify I can't believe that diabetics were left to die without insulin and I haven't heard anything like that in the news. It certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-sick-16-year-old-boy-died-in-border-patrol-care https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-s... > Video obtained by ProPublica shows the Border Patrol held a sick teen in a concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until his cellmate alerted guards. The video doesn’t match the Border Patrol's account of his death. > The video shows the only way CBP officials could have missed Carlos’ crisis is that they weren’t looking. His agony was apparent, even in grainy black and white, making clear the agent charged with monitoring him failed to perform adequate checks, if he even checked at all. The coroner who performed an autopsy on Carlos said she was told the agent occasionally looked into the cell through the window.
- Nasrudith 7y ago
  It is being an utter asshole with technicalities. Given a syringe of insulin a high enough dose to save someone too high in blood sugar can be used to kill someone stable or low. Strip away all of the special pleading for authority and it is clear the bastards belong in jail for a long time.
_wldu 7y ago
Why throw away that girl's music CDs? They are harmless and probably brought her a lot of joy.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  There's a saying: "the cruelty is the point".
InterimNew 7y ago
What’s the hacker news angle on this article? I was happy to discuss it on other sites this morning, but it seems like a purely political article without any unique appeal to Hackers.
- Nasrudith 7y ago
  Because travel over boarders unmolested and ability to transport data are important both philosophically and practicality. Much of the appeal of the internet is the casual reach - these actions are the exact opposite. In addition to concerns about human rights which are succinctly described as "everyone's problem" and not to be dismissed because of whose team would look bad.
matttproud 7y ago
The country and its people have a punitively cruel side to them. Many would make fantastic authoritarians. (I’m from there.)

36 points by edward 7y ago

They threw away insulin as "potentially lethal or nonessential"? I don't understand this. Did they replace the thrown-away medication with other, whose provenance they could check or did they just leave those people without it? For diabetics, that would mean they just left them to die, no? Edit: to clarify I don't believe that diabetics were left to die without insulin and I sure haven't heard anything like that in the news. I'm wondering what is the process in place for people with chronic diseases.

hprotagonist 7y ago
the cruelty is, quite obvious by now, the point.
plumednom 7y ago
Americans by and large .. hate people who are different than them, and despite it's significant percentage in the general population, there is a lot of hatred towards them because of their language, poverty, and skin color. Your average Border Patrol cop is a racist white supremacist and probably takes joy in knowing they might be sentencing an "illegal" to die by taking away their medications. Good people with emotions and empathy who are capable of critical thinking cannot do that kind of job.
ptah 7y ago
possibly they didn't want them to profit from selling the insulin in US https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-buy-insulin-at-a-fraction-of-u-s-cost/ https://khn.org/news/americans-cross-border-into-mexico-to-b...
- deogeo 7y ago
  Doesn't the US have a free trade agreement with Mexico? Then surely such free trade would be covered, no? It couldn't possibly be limited to just corporations?
  - derision 7y ago
    You still have to bring those products in through legal channels
ceejayoz 7y ago
> Edit: to clarify I can't believe that diabetics were left to die without insulin and I haven't heard anything like that in the news. It certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-sick-16-year-old-boy-died-in-border-patrol-care https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-s... > Video obtained by ProPublica shows the Border Patrol held a sick teen in a concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until his cellmate alerted guards. The video doesn’t match the Border Patrol's account of his death. > The video shows the only way CBP officials could have missed Carlos’ crisis is that they weren’t looking. His agony was apparent, even in grainy black and white, making clear the agent charged with monitoring him failed to perform adequate checks, if he even checked at all. The coroner who performed an autopsy on Carlos said she was told the agent occasionally looked into the cell through the window.
Nasrudith 7y ago
It is being an utter asshole with technicalities. Given a syringe of insulin a high enough dose to save someone too high in blood sugar can be used to kill someone stable or low. Strip away all of the special pleading for authority and it is clear the bastards belong in jail for a long time.

_wldu 7y ago

Why throw away that girl's music CDs? They are harmless and probably brought her a lot of joy.

ceejayoz 7y ago
There's a saying: "the cruelty is the point".

InterimNew 7y ago

What’s the hacker news angle on this article? I was happy to discuss it on other sites this morning, but it seems like a purely political article without any unique appeal to Hackers.

Nasrudith 7y ago
Because travel over boarders unmolested and ability to transport data are important both philosophically and practicality. Much of the appeal of the internet is the casual reach - these actions are the exact opposite. In addition to concerns about human rights which are succinctly described as "everyone's problem" and not to be dismissed because of whose team would look bad.

matttproud 7y ago

The country and its people have a punitively cruel side to them. Many would make fantastic authoritarians. (I’m from there.)