Thousands of immigrants, locked up at federal detention centers for sometimes no more than a status offense, are being put to work at the detention facilities for as little as $1 a day. That shocking story about the realities facing the at least 60,000 immigrants who work in federal detention centers will be a central topic at the start of Sunday’s Melissa Harris-Perry.
The host and her panel will look at the practice of indefinite detention and the questions it raises about human rights violations. The panel will also discuss an investigation by the Houston Chronicle about the alleged abuse of children and teens by staff members at federal detention centers. Rev. Alison Harrington will join the show from Tuscon, Arizona, where she has offered sanctuary at her church to an undocumented immigrant facing the threat of deportation.
Plus, we’ll examine the sometimes impossible choice facing defendants offered the opportunity to take a plea bargain and a lesser sentence – even if it means being convicted of a crime they did not commit. Up to 95% of criminal cases are resolved by plea bargaining, and as a result the majority of defendants are tried not by a jury of one’s peers but through attorney negotiations. On Sunday, host Melissa Harris-Perry will talk to a public defender in San Francisco about the implications for our criminal justice system.
President Obama on Wednesday laid out his foreign policy vision in a commencement address at West Point Military Academy. He called for a careful approach to intervention abroad, weighing the demands of our nation’s core interests against whether or not a tangible threat against the country exists. Melissa Harris-Perry will dive into the politics of the president’s speech, and provide the latest update on Saturday’s breaking news regarding the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the last remaining American prisoner of war from the Afghanistan conflict.
Harris-Perry and her panel will also weigh in on NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s first television interview with an American outlet, aired for the first time last Wednesday in a NBC Nightly News primetime special. Watch it all here. And what does the phrase “take a look, it’s in a book” mean to you? Currently, more than $3 million and counting. Harris-Perry will have something to say about Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton’s successful Kickstarter effort to bring the children’s educational show back for every child. Be sure to read what we’ve linked above and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10a.m. EST on msnbc! Also, don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.
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