Texas Prison Bid'ness

It's all the news today; CCA's notorious T. Don Hutto detention center will stop holding immigrant families.  According to the New York Times ("U.S. to Reform Policy on Detention for Immigrants," August 6th)

"[T]he government will stop sending families to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former state prison near Austin, Tex., that drew an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and scathing news coverage for putting young children behind razor wire. ...

The decision to stop sending families there - and to set aside plans for three new family detention centers - is the Obama administration's clearest departure from its predecessor's immigration enforcement policies."

Although the facility will continue to hold immigrant women, this is a huge victory for the movement to end family detention as it substantially shrinks the immigrant family detention system, and takes the new family detention centers off the table.  We'll have more updates in the coming days, but in the meantime check out the T. Don Hutto blog or these sources:

"Just-Unveiled Immigration Detention Policies Are Excellent First Step," Women's Refugee Commission, August 6th

"Hutto detention center to change direction," Austin American-Statesman, August 6th

"Feds begin immigration detention makeover" Associated Press, August 6th

June 2007 Hutto protestCorrections Corporation of America's controversial T. Don Hutto immigrant family detention center in Taylor, Texas will be the target of a march, vigil, and protest concert this weekend in conjunction with World Refugee Day. 

National organizations Amnesty International and the League of United Latin American Citizens will join a host of Texas groups including my organization Grassroots Leadership what should be the largest protest at Hutto since the World Refugee Day vigil in 2007. 

JUNE 19: Live Music Fundraiser: Dragon Rojo, Karma, Bajo Influencia, DJ Murdock, DJ Victima. Show starts a 8pm at the Twin Palms (214 Anderson Lane, Austin, Tx). Suggested Donation: $3. For more information, call Matt (512.669.9968) or Omar (469-396-7815).

JUNE 20: March and Vigil at T. Don Hutto.  Please join us for a vigil in Taylor, Texas, to honor World Refugee Day June 20th. The vigil is being organized by a coalition that includes Williamson County residents, the Border Ambassadors, Amnesty International, and the national chapter of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens). For more information, please contact Jay J. Johnson-Castro Sr. (830)-734-8636; jay at villadelrio dot com.

Noon: Meet at Heritage Park, 4th and Main Street, Taylor, Texas.*
1 pm: Walk from Heritage Park to T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center.*
2-4 pm: Vigil at TDH, including music and speakers.

More information, including an impressive list of vigil endorsers, is available at the T. Don Hutto blog. 

While we've reported that one of the three new family detention centers proposed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement may end up in Raymondville, I hadn't seen this Valley Morning Story until recently. The story provides more details on the proposed Raymondville lock-up,

City officials are considering a proposal to build a 200-bed, $30 million detention center to hold illegal immigrant families.

Raymondville city commissioners sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to support a plan to build the detention center, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said Wednesday. "We haven't committed ourselves to anything yet, except we're interested and would like to know more about it," Garcia said.

Since the mid-1990s, Willacy County has built prisons and a detention center in the Raymondville industrial park. Already there are a 1,000-bed state prison, a 500-bed county prison, a 96-bed county jail and a 3,000-bed illegal immigrant detention center, the largest in the United States.

We've reported in the past on Raymondville's growing dependence on immigrant detention beds to survive economically. We've also reported that prisons do not create long-term economic growth, and that prison towns tend to scare away more beneficial industries. Of course, there are those that stand to benefit from a new detention center in Raymondville - prison developers and private prison operaters.

According to the article, one of those is Michael Harling of Municipal Capital Markets Group.

Michael Harling of Municipal Capital Markets Group in Dallas, which would work to finance the project, said it would create 200 jobs. Harling called the city to ask if officials would consider the project, Garcia said.

"They asked if the city would be supportive of putting it in the industrial park," Garcia said. The city would sell bonds to fund construction of the project, Harling said.

Federal revenue derived from holding illegal immigrants would pay off the bonds, Harling said. Garcia said the detention center would allow illegal immigrant parents to be housed with their children.

"It's not a detention center," Harling said. "It's a facility for holding families, for holding people who have not committed crimes."

I certainly find it interesting and more than a little disturbing that a prison financier - someone who makes their money off the floating of bonds to build prisons - is the one who is acting as the spokesperson for the policy of detaining children and their families.

We'll keep you updated on developments on ICE's three new proposed family detention centers.