Family Values

NPR, via Kos:

A change in immigration policy now allows families who are in the U.S. illegally to be detained. Last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began holding entire families, including small children, at a converted prison outside of Austin, Texas.

Officials say that before the facility opened, illegal immigrants with children were often released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. But the immigrants rarely made their court dates.

Greg Mead, director of the Hutto Family Residential Facility, says the facility is crucial to make sure these illegal immigrants don't disappear.

But the facility, a converted high-security prison, is coming under increased criticism. Attorneys for the detainees, many of whom are seeking political asylum, say it is abhorrent that small children, including babies, are being incarcerated.

The Hutto facility currently holds 375 people, more than 200 of them children; its maximum capacity is listed at 512 people. Everyone, from adults to children to infants, wears uniforms of either blue or green.

And, of course, when you put people in prison, even small children, folks will treat them like prisoners.  So we have this lovely story:

The tour of the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, a former state prison near Austin, came a week after the Ibrahim family was released when a federal immigration board agreed to reconsider their request for asylum.

Attorneys for the Ibrahims, who arrived in suburban Dallas in 2001, say the five family members felt humiliated by the conditions at Hutto. Court papers allege that 5-year-old Faten Ibrahim was yelled at and threatened because she didn't stand still during head counts.