Nearly 500 mothers incarcerated with their children at euphemistically-termed immigrant family detention centers in Texas were released over the weekend following a judge’s ruling that such prisons cannot operate as childcare facilities.
The advocacy organization Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “hurriedly released over 460 mothers and children from Karnes and Dilley Family Detention Center to Casa RAICES in San Antonio, Texas.” The group says that “majority of families were released without travel plans, forcing RAICES staff and volunteers to work until 4:00 AM on Saturday night to communicate with families and arrange travel.” RAICES explained that it was forced to open another shelter at a local church and convent “to accommodate the overflow from our shelter.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that “one woman suffering from a massive, untreated leg infection was rushed to a San Antonio hospital.”