U.S. Rep. Jason Crow was outraged when he showed up unannounced at the immigration detention center in Aurora earlier this year and didn’t get immediate access to areas where hundreds are quarantined because of exposure to mumps and chickenpox.
We can’t imagine why officials didn’t let the congressman just waltz right through the infected areas, with media in tow, to gawk at all the contagious, sick people.
Crow tried sneaking in again this week, along with a media tour that had been planned since January, and threw yet another hissy fit when officials said, er, no.
They would be glad to host the congressman and other officials on a private tour, sans media circus, if he would just simply go through procedures and follow the rules like everyone else.
Long story short, none of the journalists were infected with the diseases, and all survived to tell the tale that nothing is amiss at the facility.
It’s pretty much a normal detention center, except more than 300 of the 1,300 population are in quarantined living areas and not mixing with healthy detainees until the incubation period is over later this month.
It’s a detention center, not a five-star hotel.
The detention center seen on Monday by journalists had the regular trappings of a state prison: Mostly men meandered around in jumpsuits, and there were places to work out, watch television, do legal research and call family and lawyers.
One detainee with mumps and two with chickenpox mingled with hundreds of detainees recently, which prompted the quarantine. The few who actually got sick are being treated by a doctor, and more than a dozen nurses are on staff.
There’s nothing more annoying than a freshman lawmaker stomping around like he runs the world and everyone should just bow to his wishes and roll out the red carpet.
Highly regulated areas, like immigration detention centers, have regulations in place because of laws such as medical privacy created by Congress.
And Congressman Crow knows that, he just wants the media attention.