FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Anna Núñez, ACLU of Texas, 713-942-8146, Ext. 103; [email protected]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that it will open and operate a new family detention center in Dilley, Texas in response to the influx of families apprehended along the southwest border. The facility is expected to open in early November, making it the fourth facility the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using to detain families that cross the southwest border.
Last week, representatives from non-governmental organizations including the ACLU toured the other family detention center in Texas, Karnes County Residential Center, where they spoke directly with mothers and children at the facility.
"As we saw first-hand at the existing family detention center in Karnes, children’s health is being undermined, families are being torn apart, and the women in custody there lack access to legal counsel,” said Adriana Piñon, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Warehousing vulnerable children and their mothers in detention centers like Karnes and the proposed facility in Dilley is unnecessary. Many alternatives exist that are more humane, effective, and far less costly to taxpayers.”
"We're extremely disappointed in the administration's decision to dramatically expand the warehousing of vulnerable mothers and children fleeing violence in Central America,” said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. “In just a few short months, the family detention system will have increased from just 90 beds to almost 4,000. History shows us that imprisoning families limits access to due process, harms the physical and mental health of parents and children, and undermines the family structure by stripping parents of their authority. Rather than incarcerating thousands of mothers and children, DHS should be investing in effective, humane, and far less costly alternatives to detention.”
