WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2007
Small Children In Detention Centers
Awaiting, With Their Families, Action On Their Immigration Status
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Children playing cards at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, Feb. 9, 2007. The detention facility houses families, including children, awaiting action on their immigration status. (AP/Dept. Of Homeland Security)
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A computer class for children – part of the 20-hour per week educational program for immigrant boys and girls who are being held at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP/Dept. Of Homeland Security)
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A guard holds open a door during a media tour of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, Feb. 9, 2007, about 30 miles northeast of Austin. (AP Photo/LM Otero/Pool)
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A children's swing near the security fence at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, Feb. 9, 2007, a former jail which is run by Corrections Corporation of America, according to CCA's website. (AP Photo/LM Otero/Pool)
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In a report being released Thursday, the groups seek the immediate closing of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, about 30 miles northeast of Austin. The center, which opened in May, used to be a jail and is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest owner and operator of for-profit prisons and other detention facilities – so many that CCA is in its own right the fifth largest operator of prisons in the U.S., following the federal government and three states.
The groups issuing the report - Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children – say their findings are based on their members' visits and interviews with detainees, many of whom cried as they told their stories.
At the Hutto site, according to the report, a child secretly passed a visitor a note that read: "Help us and ask us questions."
"What hits you the hardest in there is that it's a prison. In Hutto, it's a prison," said Michelle BranDe, detention and asylum project director for Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
The two groups also investigated conditions at the Berks County Shelter Care facility, a former nursing home in Leesport, Pa., about 50 miles southwest of Allentown.
The report says Berks, compared to Hutto, is "less jail-like," with a better education system for children and field trips for families. But it also has problems, the groups said. It is part of a larger juvenile facility housing U.S. citizens charged with or convicted of crimes and detained juveniles.
The groups are suggesting that families who are not found to be a security risk should be released. They also recommend less punitive alternatives to the detention centers, such as parole, electronic bracelets and shelters run by nonprofit groups.
"Unless there's some crime or some danger, families don't belong in detention," said Ralston H. Deffenbaugh, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. "This whole idea of trying to throw kids and their parents in a penal-like situation is destructive of all the normal family relationships we take for granted."
The Homeland Security Department defends the centers as a workable solution to the problem of illegal immigrants being released, only to disappear while awaiting hearings. Also, they deter smugglers who endanger children, said Mark Raimondi, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS division that oversees detention facilities.
"ICE's detention facilities maintain safe, secure and humane conditions and invest heavily in the welfare of the detained alien population," Raimondi said.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said last week that finding facilities for families is difficult, and "you have to do the best with what you've got."
Other findings by the groups:
The Department of Homeland Security opened the Hutto center after Congress criticized the agency's separation of migrant children from their parents.
The detention centers are operated without official regulations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement relies on custody rules designed for inmates.
The Pennsylvania center - the Berks County Shelter Care Facility - has about 84 beds and the Texas facility can house up to 512 people. The groups fear that government will expand detentions in similar facilities.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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To allow Mexicans and other south american nationals to just walk in any time they feel like it is a slap to the face of the people who did it the LEGAL way.
they are very "secretive" and "privatized"...
and there are way more cells waiting to be filled. Like cattle led to slaughter by masters holding golden nose rings....
Hundreds and hundreds of camps.....
NWO requires intrication of ALL nationals so how long will "immigrants" be the only ones living like this? and are they?
Camps For Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.
Foundations are in place for martial law in the US
Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States.
http://www.greatdreams.com/concentration-camp-locations.htm
We paid thousands of dollars to legally move my wife to the US. Background checks, doctor physicals, paperwork, trips to the immigration office...All legally. We still have more to pay, for paperwork. Am I bitter when some illegal gets a special pass? No.
It does make me wonder why we do the right thing though - when illegals are treated special.
Indeed, we are living in the "MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX" that Eisenhower warned us about so many years ago.
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but
after all, its the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy, All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifist for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
-- Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's Reich-Marshall
at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII
"The story takes a while to get around to the fact that they are COMMUNISTS and makes it like they are innocent people..."
-- Good german citizen from 1934
"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish.
Then they came for the trade unionist,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade
unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant,
Then they came for the homosexuals,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a homosexual,
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak for
me."
-- Rev. Martin Niemoeller, German Lutheran Pastor
Well over 150 MILLION defenseless civilians were murdered by their own governments during the 20th century alone.
The only way America can avoid such a horrible fate is if we BRING BACK THE BILL OF RIGHTS!
Read it, learn it, and LIVE it.
Are YOU prepared?
http://www.a-human-right.com/effective.html
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
- President John F. Kennedy
The only solution needed here is to streamline the system and get them the he11 back to where they came from more expediantly.
OUR children are the ones being deprived by the PC system as we cater to the whim of illegals.
An article by Anton Chaitkin, quoted in the book, states that
"professionals probing the child victims of 'Monarch' say there are
clearly two responsible elements at work: the government/military,
and cooperating satanic (or more exactly pagan) cults. These are
multi-generation groups, whose parents donate their own
children--who are proudly called 'bloodline' or simply 'blood'
cultists--to be smashed with drugs and electric shock and shaped.
Other children are kidnapped and sold into this hell, or are
brought in gradually through day care situations.
"Paul Bonacci and other child victims have given evidence in great
depth on the central role of Lt. Col. Michael Aquino in this
depravity," continues Chaitkin. "Aquino, alleged to have recently
retired from an active military role, was long the leader of an
Army psychological warfare section which drew on his 'expertise'
and personal practices in brainwashing, Satanism, Nazism,
homosexual pedophilia and murder." DeCamp's victory in court and
the million dollar judgement is a vindication of mind control
survivors Paul Bonacci, Alisha Owens and others who were falsely
imprisoned to keep them from testifying against their abusers.
Police and FBI Cover-Up
Monarch Project
The horrendous Monarch Project "refers to young people in America
who were victims of mind control experiments run either by U.S.
government agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency or
military intelligence agencies," writes DeCamp. "The story told by
Monarch victims--one of whom was Paul Bonacci--is that they were
tortured for the purpose of creating 'multiple personalities'
within them," DeCamp continues from his book. "These multiple
personalities could then be programmed--as spies, 'drug mules,'
prostitutes or assassins."
In the imortal words of Andy Rooney: "I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!
My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.
I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry *** if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines."
They are NOT suffering. They have free food, clothing, shelter, education...so far they must be doing better than they were in their country. If they don't like it they can return the same way they got here. I really don't understand why we're detaining them. If they're here illegally send them back.
Shucks...it sounds like they have it better than citizens who were on the airplane for 11 hours.
Posted by antoniof123 at 08:47 AM : Feb 22, 2007"
Yes, we realize they are kids, but we didn't put them in harm's way! You don't seem to feel the parents have any responsibility for their own kids. You are the type who probably thinks kids should be removed from their own homes whenever the DFS deems necessary, and often to the detriment of the kids. AND, NO, I don't think our service men and women should be in Iraq. I've opposed this war from day one. Don't confuse the two issues.
THE CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE IN PRISON!
THEY HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIMES!
THE CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE IN PRISON!
THEY HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIMES!
How many of those children are actually AMERICAN CITIZENS?
We use terms like Alien for the tired and hungry that want a restart, we label citizenship in legal terms as opposed to what someone in a "free" land can bring to our society. All of you who call them illegal and think they should be restricted from coming to American, need to take your own advice and hop on the next plane out of the country. It is time we remember we are human it is time we remember what America was made for and stop detaining people based on nationality and let the melting pot melt.
Think about it waste money on keeping kids and parents in prison, where they don't learn anything or spend that money on education to help make the world better and make people smarter seems good to me.
And for all of you capitalist gurus out there, think about it educated people contribute to the economy, while uneducated people take wellfare checks. So if you really beleived all that cap good B.S. then you would to create an education reform for immigrants.
stop thinking in terms of legal and illegal.
If we let them out while pending their hearing we will neve hear from them.That is why they are there they had skipped out.
I think the prison is the correct place for them.
Sad as it is gw bush has given our freedoms to them and taken our away. How sad.
The kids probably are Americans as they probably were bourn at tax payers expense to and illegal woman and man.Many get the birth certificate get their freebies and go back to Mexico and live like Queens while the kids here are short changed of their aid.
They need to be shot or sent home which ever would not bother me. The Best of Good Byes from Texas and Frank Bowers
Posted by me4prezz at 06:01 PM : Feb 22, 2007
What hypocracy it is to allow illegals entry and legals wait for many years. Or maybe we should just open the flood gates and let anyone come. We can flood the system with immigrants and break the entire nation. No govt. No laws. No IRS. No DSHS. No USDOL, USDOD, USDOT, USDO.... We can just drown in illegal immigration so people like you don't feel any guilt for living in a rich country. Will that make you feel better?
Posted by hotks at 02:00 PM : Feb 22, 2007
Guess what hotks, America is for Americans and the guests we choose to let in. Somehow that must have went over your head in school. If the kids of illegal immigrants need to be educated why don't they enroll them in their country of origin instead of trying to drag them here to live the "Hollywood Dream" of a rockin good time in America. How about we demand Mexico start taking care of their own citizens and crack down on corruption. How about if your so concerned about Mexicans citizens you aren't down there volunteering your time for the poor of Mexico.
How's life in la la land, hotks.
THEY HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIMES!
Posted by Agnim at 12:34 PM : Feb 22, 2007
Well, what do you want to do with them send them to an Illegal Alien orphanage. Actually that's not a bad idea. Deport the kids to an American run orphanage in Mexico and the parents will follow. Brilliant.
Hmm, sort of mirrors what the rich think of the poor in the US too. Guess that kinda explains what we're doing throwing little kids in jail, huh? Well at least it's a "for profit" prison so they can hopefully get around all those annoying child labor laws and put those kids to work!
You think so. We aren't sending our poor to other countries begging for services.
Posted by mdmx66 at 08:20 PM : Feb 22, 2007"
LOL
There is that small problem of deporting AMERICANS!
No doubt many of those children are Americans by birth, just like you.
Maybe we could DEPORT YOU back to where you originated; then your problems with who remains in this land will cease to be a bother for you.
No not just like me, I was born to legal American citizens.
You don't even want to know how far back you'd have to go. This is a country Agnim, not a dumping ground.
Posted by Agnim at 10:59 PM : Feb 22, 2007
It's not just my problem, it's all of our problem. We have laws and they're not being enforced. If YOU care so much about the illegal immigrants why don't YOU go to Mexico and volunteer YOUR time to the poor citizens of Mexico.
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by gunownerdan
February 23, 2007 7:37 AM PST
- "In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists,
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 44 Commentsand I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish.
Then they came for the trade unionist,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade
unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant,
Then they came for the homosexuals,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a homosexual,
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak for
me."
-- Rev. Martin Niemoeller, German Lutheran Pastor