Author: mopress

by Greg Moses

CounterPunch / T Don Hutto Blog

About 100 people protesting the imprisonment of immigrant families at the T. Don Hutto Prison in Taylor, Texas on Sunday evening marched across a parking lot to the front door of the prison and then entered the prison lobby with toys and wrapping paper.

Jaime Martinez, National Treasurer of the League of United Latin American Citizens called for the march shortly after 5:30. Carrying a bullhorn, Martinez informed the protesters that prison officials had made a promise to come out and get the toys at 5 p.m.

When Martinez called for the people to take the toys to the children, the crowd pressed forward across a yellow line painted on the driveway marking official prison property.

“Bring the toys!” called Martinez from the prison door as volunteers grabbed boxes and bags of toys along with rolls of wrapping paper and rushed to the prison door.

One of the volunteers, Georgetown resident Peter Dana, later described carrying a box of toys through a metal detector. He said he thought about helping to engineer a metal detector years ago.

Inside the lobby, prison officials appeared to be accepting the toys for the children inside. Previous reports from various sources say that Hutto houses about 400 immigrants, half of them children.

The toy march was the high point of an active day that began with a longer march from downtown Taylor to the prison that lies upon a large, flat field at the outskirts of town, across the tracks.

Local LULAC Secretary Jose Orta began the day’s preparations by parking a rented trailer across the street from the prison. The trailer served as a stage for speakers during an afternoon rally.

At sundown, the final speaker of the day, Rev. Jim Rigby of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, asked the people to turn around and face the prison. By that time, most of the participants were holding lit candles as part of a sundown vigil.

Shortly after the crowd had turned around, Martinez began walking among the people with his bullhorn.

“Free the Children, Now!” chanted the crowd with Martinez.

“The children were out playing when we first marched here from town,” said Orta, recalling the day’s events. “They saw us, but they were taken inside.”

The Department of Homeland Security says the Hutto prison is dedicated to immigrant families with children.

Organizers and protesters agreed that eventually they want to close the prison and end the imprisonment of children altogether.

After the toy march, filmmakers Matthew Gossage and Lily Keber transformed the chilly night darkness into a screening of their new film, “Hutto: America’s Family Prison” which can be viewed at: americasfamilyprison.com/Hutto.mov. Keber was taping the day’s protest, including the toy march, so perhaps a sequel will be forthcoming.

Near the end of the screening, a few people made two more attempts to deliver more toys to the front door of the Hutto prison. The first attempt was rebuffed by a security guard, but the second attempt succeeded as a young man carrying a child took the bags past the guard to the front door. Inside the lobby, it appeared that people dressed in civilian clothes were processing the toys for delivery to the children inside.

Sunday’s protest marked the first anniversary of protests outside the Hutto prison. During more than a dozen protests since Dec. 16, 2006 security guards have jealously guarded the perimeter of the prison to discourage protesters from walking on prison grounds.

See also:

KVUE: “Detention center still subject of protest one year later”

News 8 Austin: “Anniversary march at T. Don Hutto”

Email from Jay Johnson-Castro, Sr.

Hola ya’ll…

If we cannot free innocent children imprisoned “for profit” on American soil…right here in the “heart of Texas”…our State and our country are doomed.

We must free them!

Many of you have been there since day # one…and already know this. Many are just coming to discover the details. Many of you from all parts of the country have shared in solidarity with us in our quest to free the innocent children from the Hutto prison.

A year ago, May of 2006, Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff proclaimed the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrant families the prototype of many more to be opened across our great land. Hutto just so happened to be a privately owned prison…run “for profit”. Immigrant children would condemned to becoming a commodity for huge financial gain of the corrupt political-corporate world. A few informed Texans tried to find a way to expose and bring public awareness to this immoral, callous and criminal scheme.

At that time, children were confined to 8′ x 12′ cold cells for 23 hours a day in a medium security prison surrounded by razor wire walls. Often not with either parent, the children, ranging from 2-y-o and up, were forced to wear prison uniforms, stand for head counts starting at 5:30am and only allowed 20 minutes to finish a meal, often prepared with out of date food and spoiled milk products. They were getting sick on a regular basis and loosing weight.

Those were the conditions…up to early December, 2006 when an alliance of Central Texas organizations solidified to form Texans United For Families (TUFF) collaborated to hold a protest walk and vigil. Starting with a press conference, hosted by Texas State Senator, Carlos Uresti, at the Capitol building, the first Hutto walk was launched on December 14th. Arriving at 11:00am on December 15th, in Taylor, TX at the Hutto childrens prison, the walk joined the first Hutto Vigil…with some 150 grassroots citizens coming together for the first time to publicly condemn the Chertoff-ICE-CCA-Williamson County collusion to imprison children and their mothers for profit.

Since that time numerous vigils and walks have been conducted. The most recent walk, Hutto Walk III, went from the Hutto childrens prison in Taylor to the Williamson County Commissioners Court in Georgetown, in order to confront the commissioners about moral breakdown and their complicity of profiting from the imprisonment of innocent children.

Since the first Hutto Walk and Vigil, many things had come to light.

1. ICE funnels a minimum of $2, 800,000 per month to the private prison company CCA…Corrections Corporation of America.
2. Parents were often separated from their children.
3. Fathers are generally imprisoned in a different prison far away.
4. Hutto did not comply with Texas or US educational laws.
5. Hutto did not comply with Texas family and day care laws.
6. Women were not being given proper medical care.
7. Women were chained to beds while undergoing checkups.
8. Women were being sexually assaulted.
9. Media was not allowed to tour the facilities.
10. Hutto did not comply with the UN Rights of the Child.
11. CCA was grossing $7,000 per month per child.
12. WCC would make $1 per child per day.
13. No toys were allowed.
14. Mothers and children were threatened with separation as a form of punishment.

Under those conditions, at the end of January, 2007, the Williamson County Commissioners Court ignored the expressed concerns of a public with a conscience and extended their one year contract for two more years. But thanks to grassroots citizens, human rights organizations and media pressure, some of those things started to change as early as mid February. Razor wire started to come down, cells doors got painted lavender and the media was allowed to enter the facility…although they were not allowed the freedom of the press to interview the children or their mothers.

In March, the ACLU, TCRP and UT Law Clinic filed lawsuits against Chertoff and ICE, adding another level of legal and media attention.

On May 8, the UN Special Rapporteur, Jorge Bustamonte, of the Human Rights Commission, came to Texas to inspect the human rights violations of the children in Hutto. He was denied access by Chertoff.

On June 23, an Amnesty International coordinated Hutto Vigil X was held at which half a thousand folks peacefully protested this international crime against innocent children.

The ACLU effectively won their lawsuit against Chertoff…in the form of a settlement. Conditions for the children would be significantly better…but…any settlement would fall well short the rightful freedom for the innocent children that we the public demand.

Since there was a clear case of sexual assault by a guard on an immigrant woman in front of the woman’s child, the Williamson County Commissioners Court finally saw their could get caught with their pants down. Concern about exposure and “liability” became public. For a short time, the WCCC entertained termination of their contract with ICE and CCA as the money laundering mechanism for ICE and CCA. Yet ICE and CCA courted the WCCC to keep it in the loop…with CCA offering the WCCC a $250,000 line of credit and legally holding them harmless in the event of law suit. Not at all concerned with the moral or criminal aspects, or the international mockery they had become for imprisoning innocent children, WCCC unanimously accepted the offer of protection from “liability”.

YET…not one national television network has covered this international crime against children. While more concerned this past year with celebrity crimes, paternity DNA, panties, drunk driving, dog fights and heists and jail sentences…CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, Fox…national…have all refused to tell the story of innocent children being prisoners in a privatized “for profit” internment prison in the United States.

While we recognize that the national networks are complicit with an administration that would commit this dehumanizing crime against the most innocent and helpless of our human family, we applaud all of the local media here in Texas…along with those around the country and around the world. “Hutto” has gone from four Google search results one year ago…to tens of thousands today.

From Australia to Iran, Russia to Argentina, the media…radio, television, newspapers, magazines and blogsphere… have carried the message all across the planet of how children are being imprisoned in America…in the heart of Texas…for profit. Radio, newspapers, television and online news and blog sources…have faithfully published the story. We also applaud the vast national and international media that has tried to inform their audiences about this American tragedy. We look with cynicism upon the national networks that rebuff this international crime being committed by the administration on American soil.

We have also had Texas legislators try to condemn Hutto during the legislative session. Unfortunately, and that’s how corrupt politics is, legislators who are on the payroll of private prisons refused to allow the condemnation to be aired publicly.

This December 16th will be the anniversary of our first Hutto Vigil. We will indeed hold an anniversary vigil…regardless of the weather. Regardless of the weather, the children from upwards of 50 different countries have been imprisoned in Hutto. After months of being treated as criminals and slaves…we don’t even know what has happened to them, or where they are or how they are. Worse yet…the vast majority of our fellow Americans do not YET know that Hutto even exists.

What’s interesting about this vigil…we have come to learn that it coincides with December 18…the International Migrants Day. How fitting that we would be prote

sting the imprisonment of immigrant children in the land of the free.

So, we now notify you…and invite you…to join us on December 16th…in front of the T. Don Hutto prison for innocent children…for our Hutto Anniversary Vigil….and in honor of the International Migrant. We will hold the Anniversary Vigil from 2pm until dark. After sunset, the anniversary vigil will become a candlelight vigil.

T. Don Hutto is located at 1001 Welch St. in Taylor, TX, 35 miles N.E. of Austin. The following link can be used to get directions from your particular point of origin.

Before we sign off here, may we all, in total solidarity, make a personal appeal to the President of the United States. Would you join me in requesting his intervention in behalf of the innocent children imprisoned by his Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff? Would you join me in demanding that he order the immediate release…the freedom of the innocent children…from Hutto and from any other facility that detains them against their will?

Do you, as President of the United States, approve of the imprisonment of innocent children…in America…in Texas…”for profit”? If not, please immediately free them and their mothers.

If you actually do approve of the imprisonment of innocent children…in America…in Texas…and “for profit”…then we expect you to give them at least as good a deal as you gave Scooter Libby. After all, if you can pardon Scooter Libby…a convicted criminal…before he had to serve even one day in prison, surely you can free innocent children that are already imprisoned under your watch.

One December 16th…and our Hutto Anniversary Vigil…may we have a 1001 candles lit up and down 1001 Welch St.

In solidarity
Jay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BorderAmbassadors
FreedomAmbassadors
“Connecting the Dots…Making a Difference”
Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.
jay@villadelrio.com
Please read my column: Inside the Checkpoints

By Nick Braune

The School of the Americas (SOA) housed in Fort Benning, Georgia is sometimes called the School of Assassins. Over recent decades it has taught “counterinsurgency” techniques, torture, surveillance, and assassination skills to Latin American soldiers. I interviewed Dr. Guy Hallman, a scientist and a political activist from McAllen who recently returned from the Georgia protest.

Author: Guy, I know that you and your wife have just returned from the annual School of the Americas protest, and judging from the SOA Watch website, it looks like it was a success this year.

Hallman: Every year the numbers grows. This year 25,000 protestors attended. The SOA is widely known for causing damage in Latin America, and the blowback hits us. US citizens have been killed by SOA graduates in El Salvador, for instance, and SOA grads have put their US taxpayer-funded education to the service of drug lords in Colombia and Mexico. Why is the U.S. still funding this school?

Author: I know you have traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia each November for several years. What is it about this event that attracts you?

Hallman: I keep going back because it is the premier annual progressive event, as far as I know. Although the main issue is closing the SOA — our side was only 11 votes shy in the House this year — many other issues are raised during the four day event.

For instance, our group from the Valley brought the No Border Wall issue to the SOA and got a very good reception. The Immokalee farm laborers from Florida were present. (There is a Valley group supporting those farm workers by protesting Burger King for not raising the wages of tomato-pickers.) There were workshops on defeating torture, on anti-military recruitment, building coalitions, nonviolent resistance training, etc. There were movie screenings. I counted over 100 events not including the main march on Sunday! So, it is an important, well-rounded, progressive event.

Author: Who were some of the other attendees?

Hallman: Well, two presidential candidates were there: Democrat Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. (SOA protest pictures are on the Green Party website right now.) Congressman Jim McGovern, who is the chief sponsor of bills to close the SOA, was also present.

A group of 27 came from St. Joseph Academy in Brownsville. There are many other interesting people there. There was one person who is suing the Fort Benning base for all the restrictions they are imposing on demonstrators. He was seen engaging military guards in conversation through the 3-layer fence, but he scared them off instead. It seems if the guards can’t shoot somebody, they don’t know what to do.

Author: The SOA protests used to be viewed as mainly a Catholic event, but it is a lot wider now, isn’t it?

Hallman: Yes, and the fact that the SOA was founded by a priest, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, may even keep some away who do not wish to identify with his church. The church might be seen as losing its way since John Paul II was elected pope; I mean, look at what a bad job our local bishop Pena is doing on justice issues — but I digress. Surely many Catholics are there, but people of different faiths or no faith participate in the event and have major roles in it.

A prominent rabbi, Michael Lerner, for instance, spoke about the Network of Spiritual Progressives (spiritualprogressives.org) urging a strategic vision of a progressive future. It is not enough to attack the badness of Bush, etc., but we must offer a replacement. I can’t do his presentation justice in this short space, but check his website.

Author: I understand the local police are always dreaming up some new rule for the demonstrators, and they even had a rule limiting the sizes of crosses people could carry. [Many demonstrators carry crosses with names of people killed by SOA graduates.]

Hallman: Yes, the cops always have something new, trying to keep us afraid and in line. Oh, and this year there was a counter-demonstration, “God Bless Fort Benning” day. “Dr.” Laura Schlesinger was there, dressed in cammies, for the “God Bless” event. Some of her ravings were disgusting.

Author: Yes, she is a joke. If she was their highlight, their counter-protest was pretty pathetic.

Hallman: The “God Bless” rally with Laura Schlesinger, was corporate sponsored (defense contractors “giving back” a little, but with tax deductions), but if not for some soldiers there [for free food], no one would have joined Dr. Laura’s counter-protest.

Author: Thanks, Guy, for this interview. And I thank the 25,000 protestors at the School of Americas (School of Assassins) this year.

The number of children separated from one or both parents as a result of immigration enforcement is significant; the study found that for every two immigrants apprehended, one child was left behind. This suggests that potentially
thousands of children have been separated from their parents as a result of recent
immigration enforcement activities, and literally millions more may be at risk. The study found that fully two-thirds of affected children are U.S. citizens or legal residents, suggesting that the potential future costs for our country are significant. In addition, the Urban Institute found that the impact on the social structures that support children was
profoundly negative. Surely Americans should be concerned when one of the effects of
enforcing the law is that school systems and child care providers must prepare for the
likelihood of substantial numbers of their children being left without care, without warning.

Get the complete report, Paying the Price:
The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children, from the Urban Institute [pdf]