Last week, I participated in a press conference against the provision of the SAVE Act which mandates the construction of a new "family detention center" modeled after the notorious T. Don Hutto private detention center in Taylor. Specifically, the SAVE Act authorizes:
(d) Family Detention Facility- To further meet the special needs of detained families, the Department of Homeland Security shall retain or construct a family detention facility, similar to the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, offering no less than 500 beds.
Over 20 organizations and faith leaders in Austin signed onto a national letter opposing family detention. National signatories to the letter include the National Education Association, First Focus, the Episcopal Church, and the National Council of La Raza. Local signatories included:
Texans United for Families, Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition, State Representative Eddie Rodriguez, Catholic Charities of Austin, Rev. Jim Rigby of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Pastor Fred Krebs of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, the ACLU of Texas, People Organizing in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER), Political Asylum Project of Austin, Ponce Law Office, Grassroots Leadership, Proyecto Defensa Laboral, La Nueva Raza, LULAC, District 12, Texas Jail Project, Texas Civil Rights Project, American Friends Service Committee of Austin, Code Pink Austin, MADRES, and Marcelo Tafoya, LULAC National Civil Rights Commissioner.
Speakers at the press conference included Jose Orta of LULAC's Taylor chapter, Reverend Jim Rigby of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, and Professor Barbara Hines of the University of Texas Law School's Immigration Clinic. The Immigration Clinic along with the ACLU forced a lawsuit settlement with ICE last year which greatly improved conditions at Hutto. The press conference garnered media hits from Univision, KLBJ Radio, and the Austin American-Statesman.
As we reported last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued an pre-solicitation notice for three new smaller family detention centers. ICE appears to be ignoring the wishes of Congress, as stated in the last three appropriations bills, to invest in alternatives programs to family detention.
The SAVE Act's provision for another Hutto-like family detention center would be a departure from Congress's previous position that detention of immigrant children and their families should be the last alternative and not the first.