The Biden Administration is Not Forming Gulags
The Claim
President Biden is creating gulags that are torturing undocumented immigrants and political opponents.
News posted on
Emerging story
In early to mid-April, a range of sources began claiming that President Biden and his administration had started opening gulags, a Soviet era term for forced labor camps. The exact location and nature of these gulags has varied. Some claimed that they were located inside prisons in Washington DC, while others claimed that they were located on the U.S. southern border. The alleged prisoners within the gulags are either political opponents to President Biden or undocumented immigrants, depending upon the source.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation has discovered no evidence of gulags opening in the U.S.
The sources that claim that the gulags are located within Washington DC and are holding political prisoners provide no evidence. It is possible that the source is referring to the arrests that have been made in connection to the January 6th Capitol Building insurrection. However, these arrests were not made because the perpetrators have opposing political views to President Biden. They were made due to the violent siege of the Capitol Building. In early April, one person who was arrested after assaulting a police officer during the insurrection, Ryan Samsel, claimed that he had been beaten by the jail guards. This claim is worrying. However, Samsel has been able to contact an attorney, which shows that the prisoner has more rights than a Soviet gulag prisoner.
Claims of alleged gulags near the U.S. southern border state that they are holding undocumented immigrants and that children are being caged. These may be linked to recently published photographs of immigrant children in detention centers. However, the children do not appear to be under the same grueling conditions that are associated with gulags, and are not involved in forced labor. A more recent report has made clear that the government is working to improve the conditions of these facilities, instead of forcing those within them into gulag-like living conditions.
