Category: Detention

Email from Jay Johnson-Castro

Today we celebrate World Refugee Day…

Freedom Ambassadors are grateful to Amnesty International for their support in this celebration…here in Texas…at the Hutto prison camp that imprisons innocent children from all over the world…and their mothers…who are seeking asylum.

Freedom Ambassadors will keep celebrating the World Refugee Day to the end of the week…when we hold Hutto Vigil X in Taylor, TX on Saturday, June 23…sponsored by Amnesty International. Hutto Vigil X is essentially an all day event. The Amnesty International sponsored program is from 1-3pm. We expect a record turnout…in solidarity with the children immorally and criminally imprisoned there by Chertoff and ICE.

Then, as many that can, Freedom Ambassadors will head down to Raymondville, TX on June 24th where 2000 refugees from some 50 countries are imprisoned by Chertoff and ICE in a 10-tent concentration camp. We will join up with the Valley coalition that will be holding a vigil from 6-8pm.

The attached statement (below) and letter which features the innocent little victims of Chertoff and ICE is from Amnesty International. The Amnesty International contact information follows at the end of this letter.

In every other country of the world…we call them refugees. As Americans…we sincerely want to help. The elitist supremacists call refugees in America “illegals”…thereby desensitizing the Americans’ natural spirit and desire to reach out and help. This allows ICE to inhumanely round up refugees in American..and imprison them in “for-profit” concentration camps.

We do not really celebrate this inhumane treatment of refugees in America by Chertoff and ICE. We celebrate their inalienable rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

Freedom Ambassadors will be launching our new web site this week. Stay tuned.

Hoping to see you Saturday and Sunday…

Jay

---

Amnesty International USA’s
REFUGEE ACTION

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Ste. 500
Washington, DC 20003
T. 202.544.0200
F.202.546.7142
E-mail. refugee@aiusa.org

June 18, 2007

UNITED STATES: Oppose the Detention of Refugee and Migrant Children

SUMMARY: Amnesty International is concerned about hundreds of migrant children and their parents who are detained at the Don T. Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas. The Hutto building used to hold criminals before being converted to a temporary residence for refugee and migrant children. Children from Central America and other parts of the world including Greece, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Russia and Romania are detained at Hutto in prison cells for months at a time.

BACKGROUND: Every day, the United States government detains over 600 migrant children and their parents who are asking permission to remain here legally. Some families flee violence and war in their home countries and come to the United States hoping to be protected by our government. Others come because they want to have a better life than they left behind. When immigration officers find families who don’t have permission to stay, they can lock them in facilities like Hutto until they decide whether to allow the families to remain in the U.S. Sometimes this process can take years.

The detention of families expanded dramatically in 2006 with the opening of the new 512-bed T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Prior to the opening of Hutto, the majority of immigrant families were arrested and then released from custody while they worked through their immigration cases. Hutto is a former criminal facility that houses immigrant children in prison cells. Some families with children have been detained in the facility for up to two years. The majority of children in the facility appear to be under 12 years old.

According to international standards to which the United States has agreed, asylum seekers, in particular, are not to be detained unless warranted by special circumstances. Migrants in detention are to be afforded the same rights as nationals who are detained, and even in detention, children have the right to be with their families, to get an education, to have recreational time, and to live in a place that is safe.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please contact the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, asking the government to stop holding migrant children and their parents in prison-like facilities. You can also copy your letter to the head of Hutto, and the Juvenile Coordinator for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

SAMPLE LETTER:

Michael Chertoff, Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane, SW
Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

I write with regard to the detention of migrant families and children in the Don T. Hutto Detention Facility in Taylor, TX. Since Hutto opened, the detention of families in the United States has increased. The use of a prison-like facility that has not been updated to meet the needs of detained migrants and asylum seekers is not appropriate, especially for children. The majority of children detained at Hutto appear to be under 12 years old, and they have a right to be with their families in a place that is safe, with education and recreational opportunities.

Additionally, I remind you that international standards for the treatment of asylum seekers recommend against detention except under special circumstances. And migrants in detention are to be afforded the same rights as nationals who are being held.

I urge you to investigate the conditions at Hutto to determine whether it is appropriate to hold migrant families with children there, and if not, to resolve the situation immediately.

Thank you for your prompt attention to my concerns,

cc:

Simona Colon
T. Don Hutto Residential Center
1001 Welch Street, P.O. Box 1063
Taylor, TX 76574

John Pogash
ICE National Juvenile Coordinator
Department of Homeland Security
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
800 I Street NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20536

Whether your issue is corporate takeover, prisoners’ rights, refugees’ rights, or children’s
rights, we must speak out against this private, for-profit institution! As Iraqis, Somalians,
Palestinians, Central and South Americans and so many more war-torn countries deliver their
traumatized masses to our shores, are we to torment them further by imprisoning them? Join us
in this audible demonstration to prisoners that we stand in solidarity with them.
Your presence makes a difference.

Saturday, July 21

Return to Hutto Taylor, TX

Free the Children

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1001 Welch Dr.

Turn this sadness

INTO THIS SHY S M I L E !

Join us in demanding, “No Child Left Behind Bars!

What: Hutto Round 2 with the Texas Indigenous Council, CAFHTA and more!

When: Saturday, June 23, all day, with speakers from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Hutto Detention Facility, 1001 Welch Rd, Taylor, TX, 76574

(From Dallas: South on I-35 and East on Highway 79; about 30 minutes NE of Austin)

DON’T FORGET: Water, Signs, Hats, Snacks, Sunscreen, Umbrellas, did I mention WATER!

Visit groups.yahoo.com/group/CAFHTA/ or email createhope4free@gmail.com

The TUFF Coalition has a new website with a focus on the campaign to close the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrant children — a campaign they started in Dec. 2006:

www.texansunited4families.com

UNITED NATIONS

Press Release

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN
RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS ENDS VISIT
TO THE UNITED STATES

17 May 2007: The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, issued the following statement today:

The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government of the United States of America for their official invitation to visit their country and their cooperation during his 18 day visit to the United States from 30 April to 17 May 2007. In the course of his visit, the Special Rapporteur met with senior government officials in charge of migration and human rights issues at the federal level.

While in the country, the Special Rapporteur traveled to the border areas in California and Arizona, witnessing firsthand the operations of the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He also met with migrants in South Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, New York and Washington DC and had the opportunity to speak with and hear from representatives of the civil society working on the human rights of migrants at the local, state, regional, and national level.

The Special Rapporteur had the opportunity to visit the Florence Detention Center in Florence, Arizona, taking note of the conditions of migrant detainees in that facility.

He was disappointed, however, that his scheduled and approved visits to the Hutto Detention Center in Texas and the Monmouth Detention Center in New Jersey were cancelled with no explanation.

His visit has shed light on a range of concerns regarding the rights of migrants, including arbitrary detention; separation of families; substandard conditions of detention; procedural violations in criminal and administrative law proceedings, racial and ethnic discrimination; arbitrary and collective expulsions and violations of children’s and women’s rights.

The Special Rapporteur especially noted his concern that there is no centralized system in the United States to obtain information regarding those arrested by immigration officials or where individuals are detained. Families may spend prolonged periods without information as to the whereabouts of detained relatives. Transfers of individuals in custody also may occur without notice to families or attorneys and may result in detention in remote locations, far from families and access to legal support.

Mandatory detention of individuals who are neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community causes family separation and economic, emotional, psychological hardship for family members, particularly children.

The Special Rapporteur further noted that accompanied and unaccompanied children are temporarily detained in adult detention facilities which do not adequately protect the rights of child migrants.

The Special Rapporteur noted that migrants undergoing removal proceedings do not have the right to appointed legal Counsel and must therefore represent themselves in complex legal proceedings.

The Special Rapporteur also had the opportunity to hear the testimonies of many migrant workers affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, including guest workers and migrant workers. Human rights issues raised with the Special Rapporteur included the lack of adequate housing available to migrant workers, inhuman and degrading treatment of workers, disparate treatment of workers based on ethnic or national origin, coerced labor and the lack of a fair living wage for all workers. Of particular concern are migrant workers who were being exploited by subcontractors of US government offices in charge of cleaning and repairing tasks. These US government offices ignore labor grievances about violations of migrants? labor rights including wage theft, and they deny their responsibility and pass it on to the subcontractors.

The Special Rapporteur encourages the United States Government:

– to ensure that domestic laws and immigration enforcement activities are consistent with its international obligations to protect the rights of migrant workers within the context of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention Against Torture and All Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CAT), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

– The Special Rapporteur encourages the United States Government to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families

The Special Rapporteur calls upon the U.S. authorities to promote and enforce national policies and practices that protect human rights and public welfare of migrants. He noted that an over-reliance on, and delegation of authority to local level law enforcement may compromise the ability of the U.S. government to effectively address issues affecting migrants, and to comply with its human rights obligations under International Law.

The Special Rapporteur will provide the results of his fact finding mission and his recommendations in his report to the Human Rights Council.

Professor Jorge Bustamante was appointed Special Rapporteur in August 2005. The mandate on the human rights of migrants was established in 1999 to examine ways and means to overcome the obstacles existing to the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants, including obstacles and difficulties for the return of migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation.

The Showdown between American Democracy and American Tyranny of the ICE age…

Friday, April 13

9am – Press Conference at Texas Capitol, Speaker’s Committee Rm 2w.6

10am – Depart Capitol Steps

Route: Turn left, walk east on 11th Street to Rosewood; Turn left, walk past ACLU’s office. Continue on Rosewood which turns into Oak Springs Drive; Turn left, walk north on Springdale Rd; Stop at Springdale and 290.

Saturday, April 14

9:30am: Begin at Manor City Hall in downtown Manor (W. Parsons and S. Burnet); North on Old TX-20 which is also Hwy. 973; North on 973 to Rice’s Crossing (Hwy. 973 and FM 1660)

Sunday, April 15

9:30am, Start at Rice’s Crossing (Hwy. 973 and FM 1660); Turn right on 79; Turn left on S. Main; Turn left on Rio Grande Rd.; Turn left on Doak St .; Turn left on Welch St. to the Hutto Vigil VII in front of the Hutto prison camp;

Hutto Vigil VII: until 8:00pm. Like some previous Hutto Vigils…this will be a Sunset-Candlelight vigil. Let’s break the ICE. Let’s turn up the heat and melt the ICE.