Post by Logan on Jun 5, 2016 22:03:45 GMT -6
Texas Blocked From Giving Childcare License to South Texas Immigration Lockup
An Austin judge has ruled that Texas officials can’t arbitrarily lower their standards for childcare facilities just to license an immigration detention center run by a for-profit prison corporation in the desolate South Texas town of Dilley.
Activists and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services were back in court in Travis County Wednesday over a lawsuit seeking to block the state from licensing facilities the Obama Administration has used to detain asylum-seeking women and children, facilities run by private prison companies that have seen profits soar due to the rise in immigrant detention. At Wednesday’s hearing, State District Judge Karin Crump heard hours of testimony from child welfare experts like Luis Zayas, the dean of the University of Texas School of Social Work, who has loudly and repeatedly told state officials and the media that the detention centers are detrimental to healthy child development.
In her ruling Wednesday, Crump honed in on recent rule changes made by DFPS that grant special exemptions to the immigrant detention centers that, among other things, allowed the facilities to ignore a longstanding rule that children in state licensed centers not be housed with unrelated adults. Mothers detained at the facilities and activists who have mounted the legal challenge in court argue that DFPS is lowering its standards to accommodate the feds as the Obama Administration fights to maintain the controversial practice of detaining asylum-seeking families. Last month a mother who fled rape and death threats in El Salvador alleged that her daughter was molested by another woman the family was forced to bunk with at a similar detention center in nearby Karnes County. In sworn affidavits filed in court, the mother alleges that facility staff ignored her complaints and requests to change rooms as her daughter’s sexual harassment grew worse.
According to the Texas Tribune, this was Crump's response after hearing arguments that Dilley shouldn't be granted a childcare license: “The exceptions allow and have allowed for situations for children that are dangerous."
Read more: www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2016/06/02/texas-blocked-from-giving-childcare-license-to-south-texas-immigration-lockup
An Austin judge has ruled that Texas officials can’t arbitrarily lower their standards for childcare facilities just to license an immigration detention center run by a for-profit prison corporation in the desolate South Texas town of Dilley.
Activists and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services were back in court in Travis County Wednesday over a lawsuit seeking to block the state from licensing facilities the Obama Administration has used to detain asylum-seeking women and children, facilities run by private prison companies that have seen profits soar due to the rise in immigrant detention. At Wednesday’s hearing, State District Judge Karin Crump heard hours of testimony from child welfare experts like Luis Zayas, the dean of the University of Texas School of Social Work, who has loudly and repeatedly told state officials and the media that the detention centers are detrimental to healthy child development.
In her ruling Wednesday, Crump honed in on recent rule changes made by DFPS that grant special exemptions to the immigrant detention centers that, among other things, allowed the facilities to ignore a longstanding rule that children in state licensed centers not be housed with unrelated adults. Mothers detained at the facilities and activists who have mounted the legal challenge in court argue that DFPS is lowering its standards to accommodate the feds as the Obama Administration fights to maintain the controversial practice of detaining asylum-seeking families. Last month a mother who fled rape and death threats in El Salvador alleged that her daughter was molested by another woman the family was forced to bunk with at a similar detention center in nearby Karnes County. In sworn affidavits filed in court, the mother alleges that facility staff ignored her complaints and requests to change rooms as her daughter’s sexual harassment grew worse.
According to the Texas Tribune, this was Crump's response after hearing arguments that Dilley shouldn't be granted a childcare license: “The exceptions allow and have allowed for situations for children that are dangerous."
Read more: www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2016/06/02/texas-blocked-from-giving-childcare-license-to-south-texas-immigration-lockup