Locking up immigrant kids

Posted on November 29, 2007. Written by Thomas

One aspect of the immigration debate that is deserving of more attention is incarceration of immigrant children. Many kids, often swept up in immigration raids or seeking political asylum in the United States, are thrown into jails, often alone.

Just this month, in Ohio, an undocumented Honduran woman was arrested during a house search and separated from her exclusively breast-fed baby for 11 days. Her baby, who would not take a bottle, did not eat for three of them. Anyone who breast feeds or has a partner that does also knows what happens when you stop suddenly-It is an extremely painful.

About an hour’s drive from my house, in Taylor, TX, is a prison run by Corrections Corporation of America, a for-profit company. Hutto prison is notable because, aside from being a “non-Mexican” facility, they incarcerate immigrants and their children who are not accused of any crime. Even worse, Hutto was given a childcare license exemption by the state, allowing the prison to care for children 24/7 without any childcare expertise. Kids get only one hour of recreation a day and rarely enjoy the outdoors. I recently designed a website for a documentary about the prison, Children in Jail. Please check it out for more information.

As an Alternet article points out, conditions in Texas are particularly bad, where the state has only one attorney for 500 incarcerated immigrant children. Many just fall through the cracks, often separated from their families by INS agents at their time of arrest.

In Texas, there is a growing movement to close Hutto. You can visit the “What can I do?” section of the Children in Jail site here. There is also an upcoming demonstration at Hutto on December 16 at 2:00 at the prison. This is certainly an issue that parents should care about.

Tags: breast fed, Children in jail, Correction Corporation of America, Hutto, immigration, Saida Umanzor, undocumented

Posted in activism, Childrens' Rights, Corporations, US politics