Category: Detention

We have linked back to the Unapologetic Mexican before, who crafted a righteous X-Mas card of Hutto rebuke.

And today we welcome readers thrown our way by a link hooked directly from the heart. Yes, we don’t mind saying how warmed we are to be found connected underground to the following flow of spirit from an entry titled, “18 de Junio, 2007,
La Nación es de Quien lo Trabaja”:

Chances are good that if you say “read this or that or the other blog to get a better idea of ‘what to think about immigration,’ and because we are personally and emotionally connected to these events and so not only will we have a focus that will not waver but a passion that drives it”—they will say you are link-thirsting, and whining. If you talk (continually) about humane reasons why we absolutely should care about Mexican immigrants, or why caring for this huge group of people is the most important issue right now—even if you tie it to family you have, or dreams, or even ideas about historical wrongs, or kids in prison—you will be told that this is your pet issue, or that you are offering useless editorializing, or else that you should stop complaining and…lead the way?

Anyway, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that type of criticism. I’m not here to dance, and I’m not here to draw divisions deeper. But check yourself. Just because you bigger blogs have more of the mainstream that is comfortable with your views doesn’t mean you have the right views all or even most of the time. Don’t be like the Right: afraid of hearing voices that might not vote a predictable way; don’t be afraid of your own precious Democratic ideals, and of truth, and of change.

Ultimately, more of us are talking about this, and that is a beautiful thing.

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

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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

Press Release

FREE the CHILDREN

People’s Hearing on H.C.R. 64 to end illegal imprisonment of children in Taylor, Texas

CONTACT:

Jay J. Johnson Castro Sr.: 830 734 8636 (cell)

Jane Chamberlain (media): 512 453 5669

AUSTIN: Save the Children, a coalition of individuals and groups opposing the illegal and immoral detention of immigrant families with children (approximately 400 people from 30 countries) at the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas, will gather at the Texas Capitol in committee room E2.028 on Saturday, April 28th, 11:00 a.m-4:00pm., for a People’s Hearing on HCR 64. This bill, filed by Reps. Eddie Rodriguez and Rafael Anchia, which condemns as immoral the incarceration of children at Hutto, has been stuck in Chairman David Swinford’s House State Affairs Committee since it was filed in February.
The people of Texas will hear testimony from citizens across many sectors of society about the abuses of the system of immigrant detention and the improper aggrandizement of private corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America which runs the immigrant prison at Hutto.

We invite all Texans with an interest in human rights to grab this rare opportunity to think globally and act locally all in one.

Audiencia popular sobre el proyecto de ley H.C.R 64 para acabar con el encarcelamiento ilegal de menores en Taylor, Texas

Save the Children, una coalición de interesados opuestos a la detención ilegal e inmoral de familias inmigrantes con hijos (aproximadamente 400 personas procedentes de más de 20 países) en la cárcel T. Don Hutto en Taylor, Tejas, se juntarán en el capitolio de Texas, en el salón de comité E2.028, 11:00am-4:00pm del sábado 28 de abril, para asistir a una Audiencia Popular sobre el proyecto de ley HCR 64. Este proyecto de ley, presentado por los Reps. Eddie Rodríguez y Rafael Anchia, que condena como inmoral la encarcelación de niños en Hutto, ha estado inmovilizado en el Comité de Asuntos Estatales del Presidente David Swinford desde que se presentó en Febrero.

El pueblo de Texas escuchará el testimonio de representantes de varios sectores de la comunidad en cuanto a los abusos del sistema de detención de inmigrantes, y el engrandecimiento indebido de las corporaciones privadas, así como la Corrections Corporation of America, que tiene a su cargo la administración de la cárcel en Hutto.

A todos los residentes de Texas interesados en los derechos humanos, les invitamos a aprovechar esta singular oportunidad para pensar a nivel global y expresarse a nivel local.

Relevant links

HCR 64 Resolution text:

Detention and Removal Operations: Alternatives To Detention. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Fact Sheet of March 2007.

Locking up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families. Monograph by the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, February 2007

Corrections Corporation of America: A Critical Look at the First Twenty Years, by Philip Mattera, Mafruza Khan, and Stephen Nathan (May 2003).

Texas: Tougher than Ever, But Are We Safer? Comparison with New York. Recent legislation contributed to a reduction in NY prison population while allowing the state to spend tax dollars more effectively.

Neal and Angela Kopit have written a well rounded and persuasive piece on the Taylor Hutto Prison.

We have previously shared a pdf file released by writer Dave Maass–including an April letter from the state of Texas informing the Corrections Corporation of America that it will continue to be exempt from child protection regulations. In the May 22 edition of the San Antonio Current, Maass coins a term for Hutto “Kidmo” and summarizes his research into licensing:

ICE assigned the licensing responsibilities to CCA, the U.S.’s largest private prison operator. CCA’s inexperience in residential programs is evident in documents obtained by the Current that show in March 2006 CCA was hoping to receive licensing from the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and the Texas Youth Commission. Both agencies determined that Hutto was outside their jurisdiction because the detained juveniles had not committed criminal offenses and were foreign nationals. Only as the facility was set to open in May 2006 did CCA finally file paperwork with the proper agency, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. However, instead of applying for a license, CCA requested and received a licensing exemption, which Sparks pointed out does not satisfy Flores.

By Jay j. Johnson-Castro

While driving back to Del Rio from the People’s Hearing at the Texas State Capitol yesterday a song was going through my head…

Then I decided to answer phone messages from the day. While I was speaking with Dr. Javier Iribarren…recognizing that he was born and raised in Spain…I realized that the tune in my head was probably not known in Spain. I asked him. He said he had never heard it.
It occurs to me that all over English speaking Anglo North America…there is probably not a human who was raised in this country who doesn’t know this song. I don’t care if one is red or yellow, black or white…we know this song…probably better than we know the National Anthem.

I just Googled the song…and found that it was written by C.Herbert Woolston (1856-1927). It is based on Matthew 19:14. “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”

Few will not know this song by heart…

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

I’m 60 years old and find myself totally committed to freeing these little children from a prison camp on American soil…here in Texas. Then this little Sunday School Class tune comes full circle and hits me yesterday. How much more simple can our cause be. To show love to the little children of the world…and to their mothers and fathers who want them to be happy. And yet the cruelty and tyranny of our immoral and criminal leaders would have us believe that Hutto is humane!!!

After nearly five months of being driven by conviction, truth, honesty and dignity, here we are, a rapidly growing group of Americans…trying to free these precious little children of the world…red and yellow, black and white. Trying to free them from the grips of one of the most evil forces in human history. The grip that has them imprisoned without any freedoms whatsoever comes from the hands of a group of so called evangelicals…who also get money from a racist supremacist micro-minority who are committing this atrocity…using every cruel weapon in their arsenal…for money.

According to the dictionary, “evangel” means “good news”. Correspondingly, “evangelical” is “a designation for Christians who hold to basic conservative interpretations of the Bible…and the proclamation of the “evangel” or “good news” of salvation through Christ.”

Interestingly, at the Capitol yesterday, many were commenting on the gross absence of the faith based organizations when it comes to the cruel, inhumane, immoral and criminal detention of these little children…of the world…right here in Texas, 35 miles northeast of the Capitol building. Excuse my profanity…but where the hell are these well salaried spiritual leaders?

The answer is ever so simple. Dr. Javier Iribarren gave me a wristband on our walk to hold a vigil in Governor’s Perry’s hometown of Haskell, Texas, where Suzi Hazahza and here family are still incarcerated in a prison camp for wanting to be Americans. The wristband is wrapped on my rear-view mirror. Silence is Complicity. The churches KNOW about the imprisonment of the innocent and precious “little children of the world”…especially those in Taylor and Williamson County. So…after all of their silence…what could/would/should any one of us conclude? One would do well to ask…”Do they still teach the Sunday School classes C. Herbet Woolston’s little song…’Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World”?

Fortunately, religious bigotry has not corrupted the hearts of all Taylor and Williamson County residents. Many were at the Capitol building yesterday…strategizing on how to get the political leaders of the Texas Legislature, who like us also grew up with Woolston’s song burned in their minds, to obey their consciences instead of their political party…and support the freeing of “the little children of the world” who are imprisoned “for profit” by the White House, Chertoff and ICE at the CCA prison camp.

After all is said and done…I just got this link from Trish Taylor…who was also with us at the Capitol yesterday…committed to freeing the children.

Moral leadership?! How degradant can “Christianity” and their leaders become in America …before the flocks rise up in outrage? Weren’t the religious leaders and their flocks in Germany complicit with the fascism of that era?

Jay
“NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND BARS”
Free the Children
jay@villadelrio.com.