Giant South Texas Immigration Jail for Refugee Moms, Kids Set to Open

DILLEY, Tex. — "Jeh C. Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, came to this South Texas outpost on Monday to open the country’s largest immigration detention facility and draw attention to border security measures that are part of President Obama’s fiercely debated executive actions on immigration.

While Mr. Obama has offered protection from deportation and work permits to millions of unauthorized immigrants, he has also ordered efforts to reinforce the southwest border to prevent a new surge of illegal immigration. The 50-acre center in Dilley, 85 miles northeast of Laredo, will hold up to 2,400 migrants who have illegally crossed the border and is especially designed to hold women and their children.

Standing on a dirt road lined with cabins in a barren compound enclosed by fencing, Mr. Johnson delivered a blunt message to families without legal papers considering a trip to the United States: “It will now be more likely that you will be detained and sent back.” ... 

[T]he administration’s huge expansion of family detention has drawn similarly angry criticism from advocates, lawyers and faith leaders on the other side, who argue that prolonged confinement is inappropriate for young children and mothers who pose no security risks. Until now, the largest permanent facility for migrant families was a center in Pennsylvania with about 100 beds.

“It is inhumane to house young mothers with children in restrictive detention facilities as if they are criminals,” Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said Monday. “Already traumatized from their journey, these families are very vulnerable and need care and support, not further emotional and psychological harm.”

Mr. Johnson said the administration was making “a sharp distinction between past and future,” with recent border crossers now in the highest priority category for deportation. ... 

In contrast to the Artesia center, where lawyers found severely limited access to detainees and cramped spaces for court hearings, officials have set up three formal immigration courtrooms in Dilley, complete with wooden benches. Judges will hear cases by videoconference.

Mr. Johnson tried to leave no doubt that the administration was committed to detaining families. “l believe this is an effective deterrent,” he said.

Many women at Artesia have said they did not expect to be detained if they made it to the United States, Mr. Johnson said. The numbers of people in families detained at the border has dropped to nearly a two-year low, he said.

“Frankly, we want to send a message that our border is not open to illegal migration, and if you come here, you should not expect to simply be released,” Mr. Johnson said.

Many advocates are determined to fight the administration’s plans. Lawyers and mental health professionals who assisted women in Artesia said prolonged detention had proved damaging to mothers and their children.

Many of the women were fleeing severe sexual abuse and domestic violence at home. A group of lawyers from the American Immigration Lawyers Association represented 12 women in Artesia whose asylum claims were heard by judges, and the women won every case. The women, often revealing their experiences for the first time, told stories of serial rape by husbands and beatings of their children with belts and pistols.

One woman was granted asylum after she fled a gang that killed her brother, shot her husband and kidnapped and raped her 14-year-old stepdaughter.

Stephen Manning, an immigration lawyer who led the team, said the legal effort in Artesia had relied on volunteers who came from as far away as Portland, Ore., and Chicago. The lawyers association does not have the capability to mount a new volunteer effort in Dilley for many more migrants, Mr. Manning said. Homeland Security officials have insisted on requiring high bond for the women to be released, he said.

“I have no idea what we will do,” Mr. Manning said. “I’m at a loss for words to imagine what Dilley will look like with so many 6-year-olds detained behind razor wire.” " - Julia Preston, New York Times, Dec. 16, 2014.