A diverse coalition of immigrant rights and civil liberties groups met with officials of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) earlier this week as the human rights investigators began their fact-finding visits to immigration detention centers in Texas. The IACHR is a regional human rights body, and part of the Organization of American States, of which the United States is a member.
As the IACHR began their visits, members of the staffs of the ACLU of Texas and the ACLU of New Mexico’s Regional Center for Border Rights spent two days in the Lower Rio Grande Valley presenting Know Your Rights meetings for community organizations and facilitated the distribution of more than 3,000 Know Your Rights door hangers and palm cards.
Representatives of 10 organizations gathered at the Austin offices of the ACLU of Texas calling for a full investigation of conditions at Texas detention facilities as part of the IACHR’s investigation of the treatment of migrants held in detention in the United States. A press conference called by the ACLU of Texas, Grassroots Leadership, and Austin Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, generated statewide coverage of the IACHR visits with particular interest in the T. Don Hutto family detention center (PDF). Bob Libal, Texas Campaign Coordinator at Grassroots Leadership noted:
The explosive increase in detention through government programs … has created a huge boon for the private prison industry…These facilities are built and operated with minimal oversight, so international human rights bodies like the IACHR can play a crucial role in monitoring the use and conditions within these private prisons.
Jason Cato from the Austin Immigrants’ Right Coalition, a group of immigrants, students, labor, faith, and community groups added:
The increase in federal funding and pressure for local law enforcement to engage in immigration regulation … has compounded the potential for human rights violations like racial profiling and dangerous, inappropriate police tactics. Local police shouldn’t be enforcing the civil provisions of federal immigration law, and the results, in terms of decreased public safety and increased detention, come at great cost to U.S. taxpayers and democratic ideals.
Also among the groups meeting with the IACHR delegation: American Gateways, Catholic Charities, Familias Unidas por la Esperanza, Migrant and Child Welfare National Network, Texas Appleseed, and Texans United for Families.
