Gus Bova
By Gus Bova:
Border Residents Protest Trump’s Wall in Hidalgo County
Trump Administration Sets Up Potential Deportation Factory for Reunified Families in South Texas
The for-profit Karnes County facility is a hotspot in a nationwide fight against swift deportations of reunified families, who may have had their rights violated while detained.
As the Trump administration fights in court for the right to immediately deport reunified families, it’s setting up a deportation factory in South Texas to carry out the plan, according to court filings and attorneys. Most of the more than … Read More
Latino Lawmakers Call for State-Funded Immigration Representation, More Oversight of Detention Centers
In response to Trump’s family separations and detention, Texas Democrats are pressing for changes to state law and a potential crackdown on the private prison industry.
A coalition of civil rights groups and Texas Democrats laid out a plan Tuesday for responding to the federal government’s separation and detention of migrant families. Lawmakers called for the state to pay for legal representation for children and parents … Read More
Deal Finalized to Revive Notorious 1,000-Bed South Texas Immigrant Detention Facility
Willacy County officials have yet to release the details of the deal, which comes less than two years after the county sued the same company over mismanagement of the facility.
On Wednesday, private prison company MTC announced it had finalized a deal to revive the notorious immigrant detention facility once known as “Ritmo,” in the tiny South Texas town of Raymondville. In a press release, MTC said the newly christened … Read More
‘Treated Worse than Dogs’: Immigrant Kids in Detention Give Firsthand Accounts of Squalid Conditions
Hundreds of immigrant children and parents in federal detention facilities say they’ve endured inedible food, verbal and physical abuse and a lack of medical treatment.
The Trump administration is unlawfully mistreating immigrant kids at every stage of its detention system, according to new court filings that include firsthand accounts written by hundreds of children and parents. The allegations, filed this week as part of an … Read More
‘Recipe for Disaster’: New Family Detention Center Could Open in South Texas
The proposed facility — a shuttered nursing home in San Diego, Texas — would be run by a British private prison company with a history of alleged abuses in Australia and England.
Trump’s desire to jail thousands of immigrant families for months at a time has rekindled an economic romance between a tiny South Texas county and a British security megafirm. Duval County Judge Ricardo Carrillo told the Observer that Serco Inc. … Read More
Could Private Prison Cash Become a Liability for Texas Democrats?
Two candidates in a San Antonio special election are beefing over contributions from a private prison firm linked to Trump’s family separations.
Trump’s family separations scandal has reared its head in the San Antonio race to replace disgraced former state Senator Carlos Uresti. On Tuesday, Democratic state Representative Roland Gutierrez lashed out at one of his opponents in the race to replace … Read More
The Trump Administration Deported up to 12 Parents Without Their Very Young Children
A hearing in federal court Monday gave a clearer picture of which parents will be reunited with their kids under 5 years old, as well as those who might never be.
As a lawsuit over reunification of immigrant families separated at the border plays out in federal court, the Trump administration on Monday gave us a first glimpse at which parents will be reunited this week with their very young children … Read More
Despite Protests, Willacy County Forges Ahead with Resurrection of Notorious Immigrant Detention Center
The South Texas county is working to finalize an agreement with ICE and a private prison company to revive a 1,000-bed immigrant detention facility.
About 50 activists showed up Friday in the tiny South Texas town of Raymondville to protest the resurrection of the controversial immigrant detention facility once known as “Ritmo.” The protesters held signs outside of the Willacy County courthouse and chanted … Read More
The Trump Administration’s Own Numbers Show ‘Zero Tolerance’ Didn’t Work
The “zero-tolerance” policy appears to have achieved only one thing: Making it extremely difficult for asylum-seekers to follow the law.
Border immigration statistics released Thursday appear to show that the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy has not deterred asylum-seeking families from illegally crossing the U.S-Mexico border or made a significant dent in overall immigration. The data, released by Customs and … Read More