In August 2014 Dean Luis Zayas of the UT Austin School of Social Work interviewed families detained at the Karnes Detention Center as part of larger research on the impacts of detention and deportation on children. He recently released a statement, (You can read it here), specifically on the harm he observed detention is causing to the psychological, educational, and emotional well-being of families at Karnes.
On March 23, a San Antonio paralegal, Victoria Rossi, was banned from Karnes after writing a story in the Observer about her first-hand experience supporting the asylum-seeking women at Karnes.
20 women at Karnes released this statement that was read at March 24th protests in multiple U.S. cities calling for an end to family detention in honor of Monseñor Romero.
On March 26, ABA President William Hubbard sent a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, regarding the ABA's concerns about expansion of immigration detention, including detention of women and children seeking protection as refugees.
Last week, 80 Catholic Bishops, Lutheran Bishops and other Christian and Jewish faith leaders signed a letter to the Obama administration calling for the closure of detention camps in Dilley and Karnes and an end to the detention of refugee families.
Last Monday, nearly 80 mothers detained at Karnes Detention Center signed a letter (translated here) announcing a Holy Week Fast calling for their freedom and bringing attention to the conditions in which their children are being held, during which they would not eat, work, or use any facility services.
Texans United for Families
Texans United for Families, or TUFF, came together during the fight to end family detention at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center, just north of Austin. TUFF is a grassroots, all-volunteer-driven project of Grassroots Leadership. We support and coordinate TUFF members in their mission to fight back against immigrant detention and deportation close to home. In response to the influx of Central American families and children seeking refuge at the border, the Obama Administration announced the return of family detention in 2014. TUFF is fighting back to end this inhumane practice. Find out more about the consequences of family detention.
Family Detention
In 2009, Grassroots Leadership ran a successful campaign to end family detention at the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor Texas. When the Obama administration announced that it would stop detaining families at Hutto, only 100 family detention beds remained at a small facility in Pennsylvania. However, after the wave of Central American families and children seeking refuge at our border in the summer of 2014, the administration reversed its decision, opening facilities at Artesia, New Mexico; Karnes, Texas, and Dilley, Texas - all run by private prison corporations. While Artesia closed at the end of last year, the number of family detention beds has skyrocketed and is expected to reach over 3,000 by this May. Grassroots Leadership is once again working to end the inhumane policy of family detention.