TX: ACLU suing on behalf of detained immigrant children
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4606373.html
March 6, 2007, 12:27PM
ACLU suing on behalf of detained immigrant children
By ANABELLE GARAY Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
DALLAS — Civil liberties and immigration advocates sued federal officials Tuesday on behalf of children confined to a highly criticized center for immigrant families awaiting possible deportation.
The federal lawsuits, announced by the American Civil Liberties Union in Austin, focus on children held at the T. Don Hutto facility, a former prison in Taylor.
Critics say Hutto inhumanely houses adults and young children in jail-like conditions. Families held at the center have complained of weight loss, subpar schooling and long waits for medical care. The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services have demanded the immediate closure of Hutto.
"There is simply no justification for imprisoning innocent children who pose no threat to anyone," said Vanita Gupta, an attorney with the ACLU's Racial Justice Program.
About half of the approximately 400 people held at Hutto are children, officials said. None of the children or adults at Hutto have criminal records.
Many were sent there after seeking asylum in the United States and will face waits of more than 200 days.
The 512-bed former state prison is operated by Corrections Corporation of America under a contract with Williamson County.
A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the lawsuit but in a statement described the facility as a way "to humanely accommodate families with children who are detained as a result of ICE enforcing the immigration laws of the United States."
Officials there are working with the women's commission and the Lutheran group, among others, to "identify family-specific detention standards," according to the statement.
Immigration officials have described Hutto as a residential, nonsecure environment that keeps families together while they seek asylum, await deportation or seek other outcomes to their immigration cases.
Officials say the facility is meant to end the "catch and release" practice that in the past permitted families in the U.S. illegally to remain free while awaiting a court hearing. Many never showed up in court; some borrowed other people's children and posed as families to avoid detention, ICE officials say.
But critics say confining children contradicts a consent decree approved by the Supreme Court. They want immigration authorities to house minors in open settings such as shelters, foster homes or with relatives, and not in detention facilities.
