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KARNES RESIDENTIAL CENTER
DACA PROGRAM
COMPANY STRUGGLES TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER
Young immigrants won't 'rest easy'
Kathy Willens / AP
In this 2015 file photo, immigration reform group America's Voice, conducts interviews in New York.
By Nomaan Merchant ASSOCIATED PRE SS
HOUSTON — Young immigrants protected by executive action from deportation say they won't "rest easy," even if President Donald Trump says they should. Several "dreamers" told The Associated Press on Friday that they were not comforted by Trump's pledge, in an AP interview, that he wouldn't target the almost 800,000 people brought to the U.S. as children and living in the country illegally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enacted by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump Trump told the AP that his administration is "not after the 'dreamers,' we are after the criminals." "Here is what they can hear: The 'dreamers' should rest DACA continues on A10
US/MEXICO BORDER
Eric Gay / AP
In this 2014 file photo, detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at the Karnes County Residential Center, a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border, in Karnes City, Texas.
Immigration advocates say holding children in detention is harmful By Meredith Hoffman A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
A
USTIN, Texas — A top private prison company is struggling to convince Texas lawmakers to license one of its facilities to hold immigrant parents and their children together — a practice that President Donald Trump's administration recently committed to upholding. The Karnes Residential Center, 60 miles south of San Antonio, opened as a family detention center in 2014 and used to hold detainees for months, until a federal judge ruled that children held longer than 20 days must be housed in "non-secure" facilities with child care licenses. After the Texas Department of Family Protective Services granted Karnes a license, advocates sued, saying that holding children in detention causes
psychological and physical harm. A state judge ruled last year that family detention centers did not qualify for licenses. Now legislators are considering easing requirements for child care facilities, but opponents say the bill would license the centers without improving conditions. Attorneys have warned that it could invite a costly lawsuit. A state representative who introduced the measure acknowledged that the proposed legislation came directly from GEO Group, the nation's secondlargest private prison company, which operates Karnes. "I've known the lady who's their lobbyist for a long time ...That's where the legislation came from," said state Rep. John Raney, a Republican from the rural town of Bryan. "We don't make things up. People bring things to us and ask us to help." Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said parents and children caught crossing the Mexican border would generally be allowed to stay together. His comment to a Senate committee contrasted with earlier pronouncements that his agency was considering separating families as a deterrent to would-be border crossers, mostly from Central America. Kelly said families caught crossing the border illegally generally would not be separated unless the Families continues on A10
El Paso leaders condemn Sessions’ remarks ASSOCIATED PRE SS
EL PASO, Texas — Community leaders in El Paso are condemning remarks made by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a visit to their city that they say portray the border as a war zone. Sessions said Thursday that the border is “ground zero” against cartels and transnational gangs. He also called the border a “beachhead.” The community leaders say such rhetoric harms El Paso, which is located on the U.S. border with Mexico. El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar called Sessions’ comments “offensive” and said they promote a completely erroneous perception of the border. Sessions Escobar told the El Paso Times that the city already has a challenging time recruiting professionals, and that such rhetoric provides an incorrect answer to one of the first questions professionals ask when they consider moving here: whether it’s a safe place. Sessions, who is on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border with Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Border continues on A10