The T. Don Hutto "Residential Center" is an immigrant detention facility in Taylor, Texas operated by Corrections Corp of America. A former high-security state prison, it and a smaller center in Pennsylvania are the only two facilities in the United States that are authorized to hold non-Mexican immigrant families and children on noncriminal charges. Its purpose is to hold immigrant families while their applications for asylum are being considered. It began operating in the summer of 2006 and currently holds 375 prisoners, approximately 200 of which are children. Previously immigrants with children would be released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. The policy has changed and now families are being locked up in prison cells until their status is determined. Detainees are a diverse group, they include single men with children, pregnant women, and infants.

For more information:

• http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/hutto.html
• http://www.womenscommission.org/
• http://texascivilrightsreview.org/

How can you help?

• Sign the online petition against the T. Don Hutto Detention Center.

To contact us:

Send all your questions and comments to:

Articles:

• The Dallas Morning News - (February 1, 2007)
• Los Angeles Times - (February 10, 2007)
• The New York Times (February 10, 2007)
• http://www.news8austin.com (article 1) - (March 7, 2007)
• The Daily Texan - (March 7, 2007)
• Austin American-Statesman - (March 25, 2007)
• http://www.news8austin.com (article 2) - (March 31, 2007)

Videos Section:

Click the Play button to watch the videos:

Families:

Above: This two-minute Freedom Files video short provides a shocking glimpse into conditions at a Texas facility to detain immigrants run by the Department of Homeland Security. Of the approximately 400 detainees at the Hutto Detention Facility, many are children who belong to refugee families seeking political asylum in the U.S. after escaping persecution in their country of origin.

Above:(2/9/07) CBS 11. Nazmieh Juma and her 11-year-old son, Mohammad, were held at the T. Don Hutto Family Dentention Center near Austin for three months.

Above:(3/7/07) ACLU lawsuit. The T. Don Hutto immigrant detention center is facing a lawsuit over its alleged treatment of children. (News 8 Austin)

Above: Canadian Kevin Yourdkhani, 9, released from weeks in US detention and returned to Canada tells his story.

Vigils:

Above: A group of citizens gather outside the T. Don Hutto Residential Center to protest against the detention of immigrant women and children.

Other Videos : Please click on the links below to watch the videos:

• Vigil Against Hutto Part 1 (YouTube)
• Vigil Against Hutto Part 2 (YouTube)

ShutDownHutto.org, 2007.

Visiters since April 5, 2007.