Civil rights commission urges release of migrant children, parents

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has joined the call for the Obama administration to release thousands of immigrant women and children held in detention centers, finding their confinement inhumane and a violation of the migrants’ constitutional rights.

The 250-page report is another stinging blow to President Barack Obama’s immigration policies. It raises questions about what the government will do to address the large number of children and families who continue to come to the United States after fleeing violence and poverty in Central America.

The Obama administration is currently holding an estimated 2,450 parents and children at three detention facilities, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.

In its lengthy report – which includes dissenting views – the commission blasted federal officials for ignoring serious medical conditions, denying detainees the right to practice religion, interfering with their legal representation and possibly abusing children.

“Chairman Martin Castro called the conditions “torture-like” after finishing the investigation. The research included visiting the Karnes County, Texas, family detention center, where mothers launched a hunger strike over conditions and a teenage mother attempted suicide. Castro, the panel’s first Latino chairman, was appointed to the commission by Obama.

The commission’s report follows a scathing court decision in which a federal judge gave the Obama administration until Oct. 23 to begin releasing hundreds of migrant mothers and children who have been locked up in government family detention centers as they await their asylum hearings.

Last week, the commission urged Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson not to appeal the ruling.

The facilities have been the subject of intense public and media scrutiny. There have been allegations of poor conditions and sexual abuse.

But Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials say the detainees are well cared for. The facilities have playgrounds, playrooms and televisions. Mothers can take Zumba exercise classes.

Johnson and administration attorneys have argued they need to use the family detention centers to respond to unexpected migration surges like last year’s wave of migrants from Central America.

Commissioner Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego, said the report needs to be taken “with a grain of salt.” She said the majority of the commissioners appear to have made their conclusions before even embarking on their investigation.

Heriot agreed that federal authorities need to do what they could to prevent long-term detention, but she said that’s often out of authorities’ control. She cited a backlog in the courts and pointed out that sometimes it’s the women’s attorneys who are asking the court for more time to gather evidence about their clients’ cases.