Private Detention Centers in the News

There were a number of stories on private detention centers in Texas this past week. The headlines included:

• Former Laredo CCA Detainee Reports Abuse: A Wisconsin businessman who has been a U.S. resident since 1964 recounts being abused in CCA’s Laredo Processing Center. Tomas Contreras, who was detained re-entering the country after a vacation to Mexico for a minor drug arrest from the 1980s, says he was beaten by CCA guards in retaliation for protesting the poor treatment of other detainees. The link includes a video of Contreras telling his story.

• Blog Weighs in on Raymondville: Via Gritsfor Breakfast, the Mex Files has weighed in on the expansion to the Raymondville detention center, calling the group of Kevlar-domed tents "RITMO" to signify the nickname of the infamous Guantanamo prison. More on the expansion and protests from our archives.

• Detained Family at Hutto Reunited with Cuban Father: The Miami Herald reports that a Venezuelan family that was detained at the T. Don Hutto family detention center has been reunited with their Cuban father. The story is an example of the discrepancy in U.S. immigration law where the Cuban father, due to the “wet foot, dry foot” rule, was released while his Venezuelan family was immediately detained at the Hutto detention center and placed in deportation hearings.