"I have to use the bathroom," a young boy cries out.
Nobody takes him to the bathroom. There isn't one. Hundreds of children, bodies on top of bodies. There's a toilet, but that's where everyone drinks from. He can't use that. Not in front of all these people. Besides, where would they get water from if he used the toilet? He tries to hold it, and for a while it works. But when he falls asleep, he can't hold it in his sleep.
A fight breaks out. Dozens of children awoken from their sweet dreams, drenched in urine. Nobody is sure who to blame. The cage door opens and armed men walked in. Carrying sticks and dressed in body armor. They really are afraid the children might hurt them. They don't see them as children, but alien invaders. Come to take America from them and their offspring. They quickly separate the children. Fling them apart and demand silence. They exit the cage quickly. It stinks, they haven't had the chance to bathe in weeks.
One officer poses and smiles for pictures. She's a true American icon, the Mexamerican Marilyn Monroe. Some of the girls here want to be just like her. A beautiful American loved around the country. A small girl is brought back crying. Her hair is a mess, there are bruises on her arms and legs. Clothes twisted and she's limping. A guard tosses her back into the cage, she limps to a corner. She doesn't understand what just happened to her, but she knows it should never happen to a child.
"We can have more fun later," the guard says licking his lips.
Each of these kids wanted nothing more than to be American. It's what their parents wanted. They were sure this would be the best summer ever. Instead they're stuck in Camp America. Tent cities, barbed wire, separated from family with no way to reconnect. Sexual abuse and violence run rampant within the barbed wire fences. But this, is Camp America.
