T Don Hutto family Detention Center
4

03

2009
Hola Y’all!

As immigrants, or sons and daughters of immigrants we understand the plight of those coming to America out of necessity, driven by dreams of a better life even if this life might mean risking everything to enter the country without the necessary papers. Because of its geographical closeness, Mexicans caught illegaly at the border are repatriated immediately; sent back to Mexico. Nevertheless, the case isnt such for Latin Americans, Asians, or Middle Eastern immigrants without the proper papers to stay.

I found out about a vigil and protest of the T. Don Hutto immigrant family detention center in Taylor, Texas on Sunday March 7th from 11am-1pm. PODER (power in spanish) means People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources. It is an advocacy organization that fights for the rights of immigrants, the environment and other social issues. And this weekend they look to protest outside this family detention center. More important than the vigil and protest is the fact that these centers exist and most people aren’t aware of them.I didn’t know and I pride myself in being versed in immigration issues, so I decided to investigate. I looked for different sources but as always Wikipedia serves as a great synthesizer of information to provide background. Wikipedia talks about it:

The T. Don Hutto Residential Center is an immigrant detention facility in Taylor, Texas, operated by the Corrections Corporation of America under a contract by theU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A former medium-security state prison, it and a smaller center in Leesport, Pennsylvania are the only two facilities in the United States authorized to hold non-Mexican immigrant families and children on noncriminal charges. Its purpose is to hold immigrant families together while they await the outcome of their immigration hearings or their return to their home countries.It began operating in the summer of 2006. Previously, illegal immigrants with children would be released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. While it has 512 total beds in the facility, it currently houses approximately 300 individuals, about half of which are children. The detainees are a diverse group, including families of all sorts and of all ages.




T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas



On the bright side, the Family Detention center provides parenting classes, nutritional meals, ESL classes, conversation clubs and other recreational activities for the residents to engage in while they wait for a trail or a ruling on their immigration status. the NY Times published an article when the centers were opened that shows the controversy of the subject: people glad that illegal immigration is controlled and confined inside walls and those outraged by them comparing them to “prisonsâ€