Category: Detention

By Pedro Ruiz

Protest at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center was on June 20, 2009. We marched through the town of Taylor, Texas, to the detention center. The march started at about 1:10 p.m. as we arrived to the detention center at about 1:35 p.m. We had about 175 people in attendance at the demonstration. The platform of speakers and musicians was from 1:40 p.m. to about 3:50 p.m. People started to leave about 4:30 p.m. at the end, in which we took this picture.

There is a yellow line that you are not supposed to cross, as I had approached the van earlier in which they threatened to arrest me for wanting to take a picture of the facility owned by Corrections Corporation of America.

Free the Children! Shut Hutto Down! Picture of Antonio Diaz of the Texas Indigenous Council and Pedro Ruiz.

Marching to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center through the detention center’s backyard.
Marching for the first time over the downtown bridge in Taylor, Texas. Free the Children-Shut Hutto Down sign.

The Beyond Point in which only authorized people are allowed beyond this marker at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Antonio, Pedro, and Chuck.

People demonstrating their freedom of speech in front of the entrance to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, completely blocking the entrance from any vehicles entering the detention center.

For more information on the movement to Free the Children, please visit the website www.tdonhutto.blogspot.com or see Tlazocamati – Ollin Quetzalcoatl 21 at myspace.

Also, please read the article I was in exposing Lulac’s connection to Corrections Corporation of America.

Join Free the Children Coalition on Aug.22, 2009, in Taylor, Texas, to close the T. Don Hutto Residential Center down and free the immigrant children being detained by the Department of Homeland Security and Corrections Corporation of America.

The Freedom Walk starts at 1pm from Heritage Park towards the detention center where a Protest/Vigil will take place from 2pm-5pm. For more info, contact:

texasindigenouscouncil@yahoo.com

Peace be with you,
Pedro Ruiz

www.youtube.com/pedroruiz21

Note: According to a report by Juan Castillo in the Aug. 8 Austin-American Statesman, the last family will not be removed until the end of 2009. The children are not gone from Hutto yet.–gm

The Aug. 22 Freedom Walk and Protest Vigil of the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrants is still scheduled as planned. Organizers are calling for a noon gathering at Heritage Park in Taylor, Texas, and a 1p.m. walk to the Hutto facility. A rally is scheduled from 2p.m. to 5p.m.

Organizer Pedro Ruiz of the Texas Indigenous Council remains critical of the detention status quo. Although the federal government has announced that families with children will no longer be assigned to the Hutto facility, Ruiz says moving the issue to the Berks facility in Pennsylvania is not a satisfactory solution:

“They can call it whatever they want to call it,” Díaz told the San Antonio Current. “But if families are not free to go, it’s still a detention center. We used Berks as a template of what we wanted Hutto to look like but, in my mind, a golden cage is still a cage. If you’re not free, you’re not free.”

News from Bob Libal

Dear friends,

Please join me in taking action to close the notorious T. Don Hutto family detention center and end the detention of immigrant families. Since May 2006, immigrant families with small children have been jailed at Hutto while awaiting asylum or immigration hearings. The prison has been criticized by human rights organizations worldwide as an inappropriate facility for children and their families.

Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis announced this week that the Williamson County Commissioners will vote on the proposed renewal of the Hutto contract this coming Tuesday, December 23rd, at 9:00am during the court’s weekly meeting. See below for phone numbers to contact Williamson Commissioners and the meeting time and location. Now is the time to act! Please join the following four actions to end family detention:

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Hutto Toy Delivery and Vigil to End Family Detention

Saturday, December 20th, 3-5pm, T. Don Hutto Detention Center (1001 Welch, Taylor, TX)

Please join Williamson County residents, faith leaders, and organizations and individuals from across the state in the third annual December vigil to end family detention. The vigil will happen Saturday, December 20th, from 3-5pm. Organizers will deliver more than 500 toys, books, and children’s clothes to the facility in time for the holiday season. Items should be in their original packaging and not be on any recall-list to be accepted. Contact Bob at (512) 971-0487 or blibal@grassrootsleadership.org for more information.

Caravaning information and directions at tdonhutto.blogspot.com. Endorsed by: Texans United for Families, Grassroots Leadership, WilCo Family Justice Alliance, Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition, Border Ambassadors, CodePink Austin, Texas Indigenous Council, San Antonio Brown Berets, MADRES.

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Call Williamson County Commissioner Court

Today through Monday, December 22, 2008

Contact the Williamson County Commissioners and tell them to vote to end the contract with the T. Don Hutto prison on Tuesday. Tell them that family detention is unnecessary, traumatic to the detained families, and reflects poorly on the county.

Judge Dan Gattis: (512) 943-1550, ctyjudge@wilco.org
Ron Morrison: (512) 846-1190
Lisa Birkman: (512) 733-5380, LBirkman@wilco.org
Cynthia Long: (512) 260-4280
Valerie Covey:(512) 943-3370

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Come to Williamson County Commissioners Court

Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 9:00am

Come to the Williamson County Commissioners Court to express your opinion on the Hutto contract extension vote. Get there early to speak during citizen comments. The Court meets at 9:00 AM at 710 Main St. Georgetown, TX 78626. Please come show opposition to Williamson County’s role in profiting from family detention. Contact MaryEllen Kersch ( 512-863-7174, maryellenkersch@verizon.net) or Jose Orta (512-818-9802, orta_jose@hotmail.com) for more information.

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100 Events in the first 100 Days to End Family Detention Actions

January 20th 2009 to May 1st 2009

Please join Grassroots Leadership by taking part in 100 Events to End Family Detention in the First 100 Days of the new presidential administration. ICE has solicited three new Hutto-like family detention centers across the country. We need to act to reverse this policy, close Hutto, and stop future Huttos from opening! For more information on the first 100 days events or to schedule a screening of Hutto: America’s Family Prison, contact Bob Libal at blibal@grassrootsleadership.org or (512) 971-0487.

*****

Bob Libal
(512) 971-0487
Grassroots Leadership
Austin, Texas
www.grassrootsleadership.org

TOMORROW, Tuesday morning, December 23, when most folks will be focused on the holidays, the Williamson County Commissioners Court will vote to extend their contracts for Hutto with ICE and CCA. Is there anything YOU or your organization can do write, call, fax and/or e-mail to stop such a decision that will only prolong the imprisonment and abuse of these innocent children?

Is there any kind of mobilization at the Williamson Country Commissioners Court tomorrow that you could help with today? Below is a statement regarding the extension of Hutto…along with contact information. From Washington, D.C. to Washington State…please consider letting your voices heard. — Jay J. Johnson Castro, Sr.

By Mary Ellen Kersch

WCCC Judge Gattis quoted in AAS re. TD Hutto vote: “Unless something jumps up and bites me, I will vote to renew”

Bite him. Before Tuesday’s vote!

Contact WCCC members and tell them to vote NO Hutto Renewal(See contact info below)

Putting non-criminal families, including little children, in prison for infractions comparable to running a stop sign is immoral and un-American.

Imprisoning people charged with no crime, while they await decision re. applications for citizenship and asylum, is NOT effective immigration policy, does NOT secure our borders, and has NOTHING to do with patriotism. It is a corrupt means to enrich an already wealthy corporation by exploiting the weakest among us!

As partners in the contract for the most expensive method to effectively assure that non-criminal immigrants appear at their hearings, the Williamson County Commissioners Court (WCCC) exhibits a disregard for fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars during a national economic crisis.

This prison is exempt from any governmental regulation and has no government oversight—and a continuing record of abuses. With the lapse of the only outside (court-ordered) oversight of this facility in August of 2009 those risks are greatly elevated in renewal. (Article in March 2008 NewYorker provides a good chronicle)

Partnering with Corrections Corporation of American, with its less-than-admirable record of management, is a bad business practice, and exposes Williamson County taxpayers to financial risks from poor management, bad employees, and external lawsuits—all of which are beyond their capacity to control. (See attached “Letter to WCCC re CCA Business Practices.)

Williamson County’s reputation has been damaged as a result of a number of specific offenses relating to the operation of the facility, as well as its very existence. Contract renewal would affirm WCCC’s approval of the disgraces of T Don Hutto and further damage our image locally, nationally, and internationally

Evidence presented at the September public forum (which WCCC boycotted) stated that T Don Hutto’s operation is probably a deterrent to future, clean, economic development in the area; renewal would send a very bad signal for the future of such growth; it is actually anti-economic development!

This proposal fails the simple “risk vs. benefits” of any business undertaking. The less than $16,000 monthly maximum that Williamson County collects under this contract cannot be reasonably argued to compensate for the negatives that exist.

WCCC has had a very rough record re. contracts to date; re-entering this partnership does nothing to convince citizens that WCCC has been learned anything from those previous costly contract mistakes.

Please Contact:
Judge Dan Gattis: ctyjudge@wilco.org(512) 943-1550
Commissioner Lisa Birkman: lbirkman@wilco.org ( 512) 733-5380
Commissioner Cynthia Long: clong@wilco.org(512) 260-4280)
Commissioner Valerie Covey: vcovey@wilco.org (512) 943-3370
Commissioner Ron Morrison: rmorrison@wilco.org (512) 846-1190

Phone, email, by end of business Monday and tell them NO to Hutto! And broadcast this plea on behalf of good government and the babies in jail.