Taylor, TX — In a video obtained by Grassroots Leadership, a woman recently released from T. Don Hutto detention center after community and congressional pressure reports there are six active COVID-19 cases at the immigration jail located in Taylor, Texas. [node:read-more:link]
AUSTIN — Dr. [node:read-more:link]
Washington, DC —Today, more than 45 non-governmental organizations that work in Texas [node:read-more:link]
TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — Williamson County will officially cut its ties after Thursday with an immigrant detention center in Taylor.
The county previously had an Intergovernmental Services Agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and private prison company CoreCivic for the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, which houses women detained at the border. In June 2018, the commissioners' court voted 4-1 to end those agreements by Jan. 31, 2019.
Grassroots Leadership, a group advocating for immigrant rights in Austin, hoped that the county's action would mean the facility would close by that date. However, it doesn't appear T. Don Hutto will shut its doors anytime soon. [node:read-more:link]
An advocacy group for immigrants will hold a rally Thursday outside the Taylor City Council meeting Thursday to demand answers for why the T. Don Hutto Residential Center is still open after many reports of abuse, said one of the event’s organizers. The center is located in Taylor and holds detained immigrant women.
The Williamson County Commissioners Court ended their intergovernmental service agreement with the center at the end of January. CoreCivic owns and operates the center. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a short-term contract extension with CoreCivic for the T. Don Hutto Residential Center to remain open beyond Jan. 31, according to a statement from Adelina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for ICE, which declined further comment. [node:read-more:link]
WHAT: Rally and public testimony
WHO: Community members and formerly detained women
WHEN: Thursday, February 14th; 5:30pm
WHERE: Taylor City Council, 400 Porter Street Taylor, TX 76574
AUSTIN — Community members are demanding answers after a notorious detention center in Williamson County appears to be staying open following the end of its contract with the county. [node:read-more:link]
AUSTIN — Saturday more than 80 community members from Austin, San Antonio, Laredo, and the Rio Grande Valley caravanned to the Laredo Processing Center for a rally to call for the freedom of detained mom, Melvin Griselda Cruz-Lopez. They called on ICE to release her immediately and protested endemic abuse at the for-profit immigration prison operated by CoreCivic, where immigrants are sent in retaliation for speaking up for their rights. [node:read-more:link]
AUSTIN — Thursday evening, ICE officials at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas told Melvin Griselda Cruz-Lopez that there had been no appeal filed in her case and she must sign her own deportation. They stated she would go crazy spending six more months there, like the other women do, when she refused. [node:read-more:link]
WHAT: Testimony to County Commissioners and March
WHO: Faith leaders, community members, and advocates
WHEN: Tuesday, June 26 at 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
WHERE: Williamson County Commissioners Court, 710 S Main St, Georgetown, TX 78626 [node:read-more:link]
AUSTIN — A letter received by advocates at Grassroots Leadership last week from inside the Hutto immigrant detention center describes sexual assaults against two women at the T. Don Hutto immigrant detention center in Taylor, Texas and names two different guards as perpetrators. Laura Monterrosa describes a pattern of sexual assault at Hutto that she has endured since June. [node:read-more:link]
