Hutto Closes: What’s Next?

Families are being shipped from the notorious Texas immigration detention center to a Pennsylvania facility.

By Leticia Miranda Oct 29, 2009

October 29, 2009

The  T. Don Hutto immigration detention center in Texas is closing thanks to the efforts of a coalition of activists, lawyers and community members.

The detention center was instituted during the Bush administration as a perverse solution to keep immigrant families together while ensuring they make their court dates.

Hutto was notorious for its human rights violations and substandard conditions. Families were deprived of medical care, children were not given schooling and many women reported sexual abuse at the hands of guards. In 2007, a coalition led by the ACLU successfully forced ICE to improve conditions at the center.

But immigrant rights advocates aren’t celebrating yet.  Families will be moved to a Pennsylvania detention facility

President Obama has not yet kept his campaign promise to propose a major overhaul of the immigration system.

Tags