When Do ICE Detention Centers Cross the Line Into Concentration Camps? Experts Say We’re There

The debate over what to call U.S. immigration detention centers is more than semantics. It’s about confronting the reality of what these facilities have become under the Trump administration. While official government language tries to sanitize the situation with terms like “detention centers” or “processing centers,” historians and immigrant advocates warn these euphemisms mask a darker truth: these are concentration camps.

Journalist Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, explains that concentration camps have existed for over a century and are defined by the mass detention of civilians without due process — based on identity, not crimes committed. The U.S. immigration enforcement system, especially under Trump, fits this description. ICE has expanded arrests beyond undocumented immigrants to include people with legal protections and even U.S. citizens, often targeting groups like Somalis and Haitians with disparaging rhetoric.

Holocaust historian Waitman Beorn emphasizes that concentration camps don’t have to be extermination camps like Auschwitz to be called what they are. Early Nazi camps resembled warehouses and sports arenas repurposed for mass detention — much like the warehouses ICE has recently acquired for detaining immigrants. These facilities isolate detainees, restrict access to legal counsel, and often operate with little oversight.

The consequences of this mass detention are dire. Reports of inadequate food, unsanitary conditions, and insufficient medical care are widespread. Outbreaks of measles, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 have ravaged these camps. Eighteen people have died in ICE custody so far this year, more than double the number from the same period last year. Despite these facts, the Department of Homeland Security denies systemic issues, claiming proper meals and medical care are provided.

The use of the term “concentration camp” remains controversial. Some Jewish groups and far-right factions reject the comparison, fearing it diminishes the Holocaust’s unique horror. But historians argue that understanding the broader history of concentration camps is essential to preventing future atrocities. They warn that refusing to recognize these parallels weakens the commitment to “never again.”

The Trump administration’s immigration detention system is not just a bureaucratic inconvenience — it is a human rights crisis that echoes some of history’s darkest chapters. Calling these facilities what they are is a critical step in demanding accountability and change. We cannot afford to look away or downplay the suffering happening behind those fences.