U.S. family immigrant centers like prisons: report

[helderheid]

&resize=full
Maer Torrescano, 6, rests with his father Havacuc, 24, from the state of Morelos, Mexico, at the U.S. Border Patrol detention center in Nogales, Arizona, May 31, 2006. Family detention centers for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the United States are like prisons, where residents face harsh discipline and lack adequate health care, two advocacy groups said on Thursday. REUTERS/Jeff Topping

By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Family detention centers for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the United States are like prisons, where residents face harsh discipline and lack adequate health care, two advocacy groups said on Thursday.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service surveyed facilities in Texas and Pennsylvania that can hold up to 600. Most of those held there are mothers and children.

"(The) Homeland Security (Department) has to look for alternative models," said Michelle Brane, director of the Women's Commission. "Families should not be split or put in something that looks like a prison."

One of the facilities, the Don Hutto Residential Center in Texas, can house 512 people. Before it opened last year, most of the families were either released from detention or separated and detained individually, the report said.

It is operated by Corrections Corporation of America under contract with Williamson County, Texas.

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http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2007-02-22T221022Z_01_N22455631_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION-FAMILIES.xml

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x284632#291586

PLEASE send this to Keith Olbermann

[e-mail]
[e-mail]

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

[helderheid]

1. KICK

:mad:

[helderheid]

2. Must be really busy in GD

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. The "land of the free and home of the brave" is neither.

Concentration camps for poor people are the antithesis of what America is supposed to stand for.



The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[helderheid]

24. heartbreaking

:cry:

[elehhhhna]

4. I saw one on the news this weekend--

it IS a PRISON. Period. Small cell, bunks, open toilet in the corner.

IT IS A PRISON.

k&r, helderheid

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. A national disgrace---it was covered on Democracy Now this past week

They interviewed an Iranian family who had been on their way to Canada, where they had lived for ten years. Their plane had to land on U.S. soil due to the illness of a passenger, so they were detained as "illegal immigrants," even though they had no intention of staying in the U.S. and would not even have been there if it hadn't been for the emergency landing. (Like, the INS couldn't have just kept them in a secure area in the airport until a flight to Canada could be found?)

At the time of the report, they'd been in detention in Texas for 19 days. The 9-year-old son was being kept in a cell separate from the parents at night.

The report also covered a tent city detention center on the southern tip of Texas, where prisoners complain about inadequate food and arbitrary transfers from one facility to another, often without notifying their lawyers. An immigration lawyer who visits the camp regularly said that she met an African woman who had been moved eight times.

Another unconscionable thing that the INS does is house immigrants in the general prison population.

[helderheid]

8. Thank you for the recommend!

[demrabble]

5. We Treat Animals Better Than This

Here in the Washington, DC area, the Animal Rescue League recently openned up a new facility that provides wonderful care for dogs, cats, and other animals cast aside by society. It's a long overdue facility and it is truly wonderful.

I thought of that facility when I read about these prison camps for poor people trying to come into America.

How sad it is that we treat animals better than poor people.

[helderheid]

23. I couldn't agree more.

[helderheid]

7. Here's the picture that didn't post in the OP - too late to edit

[dogday]

9. This is the saddest thing... I am surprised they

are not putting these people to work and making money off their misery...

[helderheid]

10. It's early.

[dogday]

11. You are right, they are probably formulating

a plan even as I type this.... Cheap labor and they are not using, I can't believe that!!! :mad: :thumbsdown:

[helderheid]

12. This whole thing INFURIATES me and I am shocked there isn't more outrage - I hope KO talks about it!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/us_nm/usa_immigration_families_dc_1;_ylt=Anf0XIgxXRlf70YVSW.Fcu29IxIF

[nam78_two]

13. K&R.nt

[helderheid]

17. thanks!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Another kick & rec.

[helderheid]

18. Thank you!

[kineneb]

15. we have become that which we fought

My "Uncle" Vern was a Pearl Harbor survivor...
Alas, dearly departed Uncle, you would roll in your grave, to see what we have become.

:cry:

[kineneb]

16. oops-dupe

internet being weird

[helderheid]

19. Mercury is retrograde ;)

[sweetheart]

20. everything's like a prison

There's no escape from the prison
of bodily existance
except for the fated death penalty
randomly facing uz all.

[helderheid]

21. :) You remind me of my dad talking about us all being prostitutes for the Man!

[helderheid]

22. k

[suffragette]

25. K & R big time

And I'd nominate again if I could.

This is despicable. This is what the fear mongering leads to.

And it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG - dammit!



:cry:

[helderheid]

26. k