T. Don Hutto Center in Taylor Will No Longer Detain Families

from The Least of These

The T. Don Hutto Residential Center will no longer be a detainment center for families awaiting judgments on their immigration cases, the Obama administration announced this morning.

Now, it’s not exactly going to be a kiddie pool either—the Hutto Center will become an immigration jail for women—but it’s an improvement in step with a national overhaul of the immigration detention system, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“This change marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to enforce immigration laws smartly and effectively,” Napolitano said in today's press release. “We are improving detention center management to prioritize health, safety and uniformity among our facilities while ensuring security, efficiency and fiscal responsibility.”

Housing families since 2006, the Hutto Center’s been protested for just as long. The American Civil Liberties Union and other opponents have lobbied Congress to close the facility, and in 2007, the University of Texas School of Law’s Immigration Clinic and the ACLU of Texas sued the government, claiming the center violated the rights of minors detained there, and won a settlement mandating several family rights and education standards at Hutto. That settlement is set to expire Aug. 29.

John Morton, who leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as assistant secretary of homeland security, told the Statesman that the agreement’s expiration did not directly affect the decision to close the Hutto Center. Families will now be detained at a smaller facility in Pennsylvania, and Morton said that the government’s looking at other options for detainees, such as supervised release. He could not comment on how soon the families currently at the Hutto Center would be transferred to another facility.

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