DHS Announces Changes To Illegal Immigrant Detention Policies

The Department of Homeland Security announced changes to its illegal immigrant detention policies regarding female immigrants with minor children. The changes will allow women and their children held in illegal immigrant detention facilities to pursue their claims for protective asylum in immigration courts. The women and their children would be allowed to stay with relatives while their cases work through the system, rather than be kept in detention facilities indefinitely.

Harsh Conditions at Illegal Immigrant Detention Facilities

Reports have surfaced about the harsh and inhumane conditions mothers and their children have endured at some illegal immigrant detention facilities. Staffers at illegal immigrant detention facilities in Karnes County, Texas, and Dilley, Texas, have come under fire for reported incidents of physical abuse, sexual harassment and poor medical treatment of female detainees. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson toured the Karnes County facility and reviewed the site’s records before recommending the policy changes.

Protests Spur Illegal Immigrant Detention Policy Changes

The changes were largely prompted by protests held at the Karnes illegal immigrant detention facility. The protests included hunger strikes, sit-down strikes and chants of “We want freedom!” A number of suicide attempts have also been reported at the Karnes illegal immigrant detention center. A 19-year-old woman, who escaped Honduras with her young child, reportedly attempted suicide and left a note accusing guards of “killing (her) little by little with punishment and lies.”

Fleeing Women Held in Illegal Immigrant Detention Camps

The women and children held in these illegal immigrant detention camps are often fleeing from dangerous circumstances in their native countries. Widespread gang warfare, civil unrest and domestic violence have spurred these women to take their children, pay thousands of dollars to human smugglers and enter the U.S. along the thousand-mile southern border. These women and their children have reportedly been held in illegal immigrant detention facilities for months, without access to family, attorneys or other advocates for their asylum claims.

DHS: Illegal Immigrant Detention Will Be “Short-Term”

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stated that the the changes in the illegal immigrant detention policy will allow those who qualify for asylum to stay with family members while the immigration courts process their claims. After visiting the Karnes illegal immigrant detention center, he told reporters he wanted to see “substantial changes” and that “the detention of families will be short-term in most cases.” The policy changes will affect about 2,600 mothers and children held in the Karnes facility, as well as those in Dilley and in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Source: New York Times, San Antonio Current

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