CHILDREN HELD HERE IN AMERICA, IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS

Remember those relocation and detention centers -- courtesy of Kellogg, Brown and Root, that we were all concerned about a few months back? Well, they've begun to be put to use. Before Bush II, illegal immigrants either remained in the U.S. while being processed, or were deported. Bush II came up with the brilliant idea of detaining them without due process indefinitely. Here is an excellent article on the detainment centers by Joseph Richey, and another by Nat Perry. Here is an overview of how the detention policy fits in with the rest of Bushco's immigration policies.

One result of this policy is the indefinite detainment of illegal immigrant children.

From From Amnesty International's site, amnestyusa.org:

According to the INS, the number of unaccompanied children detained in the United States has more than doubled over the last five years, rising from 2,375 in 1997 to 5,385 in 2001. On any given day, it is estimated that 500 children are held in US immigration detention... Once US immigration authorities take them into custody, approximately one-third are detained in harsh conditions in secure, jail-like facilities designed for juvenile offenders... It is important to note that these children are held in detention for administrative reasons, not as punishment for criminal behavior. They are not charged with any crime, but are often held for months or even years in punitive conditions... AI also visited three detention facilities housing unaccompanied minors. As a result of this research, AI found that unaccompanied children caught in the U.S. immigration system are routinely deprived of their rights... Girls are more likely to be housed with adults or with delinquent juveniles because they are fewer in number...

Of course, along with violations of habeas corpus, due process, international and domestic law and human decency, there are these horrors of inhuman treatment reported by AI:

Excessive Force, Restraints, Strip Searches

Disturbingly, AI also documented allegations of excessive use of force, administered in a manner that may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, to a degree that reflects major organizational deficiencies as well as personal misconduct. Children are subjected to pepper spray, placed in solitary confinement, and routinely restrained in violation of international standards... Staff reportedly kick children, throw them to the floor and knock their heads into walls for infractions such as looking the wrong way, saying "can I use the bathroom" instead of "may I," or not being able to count properly... AI is alarmed by reports that not only are some children routinely shackled during transportation to court hearings, but in some instances they also may be shackled in the courtroom. One advocate described to AI how she had seen a seven-year-old boy from Central America in handcuffs before a judge in California.

More specifically, there are stories about a detention center in Taylor, Texas by local newspapers and television newscasts. The following story describes the daily living conditions there:

(From KXAN TV's website, kxan.com on the T. Don Hutto Immigration Detention Center

on Welch St. in Taylor, Texas):

What's been drawing the most attention about the Hutto facility is that it used to be a prison. The fences are still there in the front... still wrapped in razor wire... We saw the cafeteria, the recreational facilities, and the places where the detainees live. Although the doors inside are not locked, they are still traditional jail cell-style rooms, with a bed, toilet and a sink. The facility has been under fire for detaining children. In fact, most of the people in the facility are children of illegal immigrants... "We do everything we can to make this as comfortable a facility as possible [and] as appropriate to families as possible within the context that it is a detained setting," said Gary Mead with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement. "They are not free to leave." And the detainees are assigned clothing and have to have their personal belongings locked up during their time at the facility... ...That center in Taylor is one of dozens of immigration centers around the state.

This article from the NYTtells more about daily living conditions at Taylor. Here is a good dkos diary by Nag on the Texas facility, and another one here by edie.

CHILDREN HELD AT GUANTANAMO BAY

There are and have been children detained at Gauntanamo Bay. From the Guardian Unlimited:

"[The detention of youths] reflects our broader concerns that the US never properly determined the legal status of those held in the conflict," said James Ross, legal adviser for Human Rights Watch in New York. Lt Col Johnson said the juveniles were being held because "they have potential to provide important information in the ongoing war on terrorism". "Their release is contingent on the determination that they are not a threat to the [US] nation and have no further intelligence value." Lt Col Johnson said officials determined that some detainees were younger than 16 during medical and other screenings after their arrival in Cuba. He added that all the prisoners aged under 16 years were brought to Guantanamo after January 1 2002 - suggesting that some were 15 or younger when they were first imprisoned.

The detention environment at Guantanamo is more than just a prison facility, it has in fact been called "a system of torture."

CHILDREN HELD AT ABU GHRAIB

From the BBC News website on Friday, 11 March, 2005

Children as young as 11 years old were held at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison at the centre of the US prisoner abuse scandal, official documents reveal. Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of the jail, gave details of young people and women held there. Her assertion was among documents obtained via legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)... Brig Gen Karpinski, who was in charge at Abu Ghraib from July to November 2003, said she often visited the prison's youngest inmates. She said in her interview that she thought one boy "looked like he was eight years old". "He told me he was almost 12," she said. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."

This is the latest update I've found so far on the videotapes of torture and abuse of children at Abu Ghraib.

On the legal aspects of children in detention, AI gives us the tip of the iceberg of violations of law:

Results of AI Research - Use and Conditions of Detention

According to international standards, children should be confined and imprisoned only in exceptional circumstances or as a last resort, and then only for the shortest possible time. Nevertheless, AI found that unaccompanied children in the U.S. are not only detained, but often are held in facilities that routinely fail to adhere to both international and domestic standards.

There is much, much more available to report on these issues. The forgotten children at U.S. detention centers is something that has recieved little or no coverage and deserves to be greatly highlighted. It should be added to the top of the list of impeachable offenses committed by the Bush regime.

I intend to diary further on this topic of the fate of children in detention, including more about the detention facilities, organizations working on the issue for human rights, etc.