Thread: Treatment of immigrant children inconsistent

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your ... rID=181724

Sunday April 1 2007

Treatment of immigrant children inconsistent
3/31/2007 5:33 PM
By: Chelsea Hover

The T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center has been the target of a lot of criticism in recent months. The facility houses families who've entered the country illegally.

More than half of the 400 immigrants there are children. And now, it's at the heart of a major civil lawsuit alleging widespread abuse and housing adults and young children in jail-like conditions.

But the rules and treatment aren't even across the board. At the Bokenkamp Children's Shelter in Corpus Christi, immigrant minors are protected by social services that those at Hutto are not.

"I came to have a better life here. In America we can be somebody, and I can be with my family," 15-year-old Jorge said in Spanish.

Jorge is separated from his family while living at the Bokenkamp Children's Shelter.

Bokenkamp houses some 60 other undocumented children who each made their own journey from their homeland.

"This is a beautiful place, they treat us well," 17-year-old Brenda said in Spanish.

But Jorge and Brenda's story is not just about their journey as illegal immigrants, but finding their place in the American system.

At Bokenkamp, the kids without family are cared for as foster children.

"All the kids that come to our program deserve all the human dignity that all of us have," Hector Acevedo, the Director of Bokenkamp, said.

"None of us here could imagine that there was a place like this," Brenda said in Spanish. "There's not another country that does things like this for young people."

This assessment stands in stark contrast to conditions in the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center where families are being held in a former prison, and according to some, they're being treated like criminals.

"There is simply no justification for imprisoning innocent children who pose no threat to anyone," Vanita Gupta, a spokesperson for ALCU, said.

In 10 lawsuits, the ACLU claims the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor violated virtually every aspect of a settlement meant to protect immigrant minors.

"It's appalling, it's not the way we should be treating people," Acevedo said.

At Bokenkamp teens enjoy those freedoms and more.

"This is a good place and you can learn a lot. You can go to school, we have parties, go on outings, go to the beach," 16-year-old Alvaro said in Spanish.

In the dorm rooms in Bokenkamp, the walls are covered with colorful drawings and certificates they earn in class. Plus they sleep on comfortable beds with any bedding they choose.

In Taylor, children sleep on the metal prison cots and are monitored by lasers.

Plus, those kids are forced to wear uniforms, endure head counts three times a day, and reportedly go weeks without playing in the sun.

"There's lots of kids in there suffering, lots of kids and their mothers. You only see tears in there, no happiness," Denia, a former Hutto detainee said.

But at Bokenkamp, residents enjoy free time to play, have a say in the food that's served, and have a full 8-hour class schedule. The students are grateful to gain these skills for the future.

"Here we have a lot more than we did before," Alvaro said.

The only reason these kids have rights that those in Hutto do not is because they're protected as unaccompanied minors.

So while some immigrant children are being prepared for their future, others are the victims of alleged abuse. The government said they're working on closing the gap on the inconsistencies.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they're still learning how to best care for families.

They said they're consulting with advocacy organizations to draft standards for family care.

Well, if the parents are here illegally, so are the kids. Don't break up the family, keep the lot of them together in the holding facility.

The parents did this to their children. Waaaaaaaaaa!

What to they expect, a room at the Ritz for breaking the law. If they don't like it, they can wave the deportation trial and opt for immediate deportation.

Once again, illegal aliens are doing it to their children. Leave, go home and get your kids out of "those horrible living conditions" like "jail".

Dixie