ICE Detention Centers Meet the Definition of Concentration Camps, New Research Warns

The phrase “concentration camp” carries a heavy historical weight, often immediately evoking the horrors of Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. But the term’s origins trace back to late 19th-century Spanish military tactics in Cuba, where civilians were forcibly confined to isolate them from rebels—resulting in mass death and disease.

Scholars Alex Braithwaite and Rachel D. Van Nostrand have conducted a sweeping peer-reviewed study examining 150 global systems of camps since 1896, including infamous examples such as Japanese American internment during World War II, Argentina’s military junta camps in the 1970s, and Russia’s filtration camps amid the Ukraine war.

Their research identifies four defining characteristics of concentration camp systems:
1. Targeting specific civilian groups for imprisonment
2. Enclosing detainees in spaces where the state controls entry and exit
3. Operating outside established legal detention frameworks
4. Routinely subjecting detainees to abuse and neglect, including torture, overcrowding, and denial of basic needs

Applying these criteria to the network of more than 240 active ICE detention facilities across the United States reveals a disturbing truth: these centers function as a modern system of concentration camps. Migrants are held without trial, denied due process, and face inhumane conditions that include overcrowding, lack of adequate healthcare, and psychological and physical abuse.

Since the start of the Trump administration’s second term, detainees have filed over 34,000 habeas corpus petitions challenging their indefinite confinement—highlighting the systemic denial of constitutional rights within these camps.

This finding is not an exercise in sensationalism but a call to action. Recognizing ICE detention centers as part of a broader pattern of state repression is crucial to preventing further erosion of civil rights and democratic norms. It demands urgent accountability and reform from policymakers and the public alike.

The ongoing expansion of for-profit immigration detention and the normalization of these camps mark a dark chapter in U.S. history—one that echoes the grim legacy of concentration camps worldwide. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye.