I spent Friday bailing a friend’s friend out of immigration detention. He has been detained at Elizabeth Detention Center for the past four months. As I struggled with the unhelpful bureaucracy of the immigration process, I had to go to the Detention Center, which is stuck among the miles of warehouses on Dowd Street near the airport. I am horrified that our country is warehousing people in storage boxes under the lie of homeland security.

It is a lie because this man was not a threat to anyone.

While your editorial “Netting criminal illegals” (Oct. 9) claims deportation of immigrants with criminal records is increasing, it doesn’t explain that millions of people are still being detained, in inhumane conditions, most without prior offences. The detention center holds up to 300 people in an open warehouse with no regard for human needs.

We have been here before. How long will it take for our country to understand we can’t imprison everyone who is “foreign” as a potential enemy? Enough is enough.

Anne Barron, Highland Park

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerletters/2010/10/gov_chris_christie_and_the_rai.html