| |
| |
|
|
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, The Texas portion of the border between the United |
|
|
States and Mexico comprises more than half of the nearly 2,000-mile |
|
|
boundary between the two countries; as a result of this proximity, |
|
|
the State of Texas is uniquely aware of the importance of the border |
|
|
to the security of the nation as a whole and sensitive to the impact |
|
|
of immigration on the economic and social well-being of both |
|
|
countries; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The Office of the Inspector General at the |
|
|
Department of Homeland Security estimates the costs of detaining |
|
|
undocumented immigrants to be $1.7 billion annually, and current |
|
|
research indicates that detaining immigrant and asylum-seeking |
|
|
families does not deter illegal immigration; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 2006, Homeland Security re-opened the T. Don |
|
|
Hutto Residential Facility in Taylor, Texas, operated by private |
|
|
prison firm Corrections Corporation of America, for the purpose of |
|
|
detaining immigrant and asylum-seeking families who are awaiting |
|
|
immigration proceedings; Of the up to 250 individuals detained in |
|
|
the facility's family unit, at least half are children; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Children who have had no decisive role in their |
|
|
migration or flight should not be exposed to unnecessary trauma, |
|
|
and should not be detained in a regimented facility run by a |
|
|
for-profit prison corporation with significant restrictions on |
|
|
their liberty while their parents await immigration proceedings; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The United States House and Senate committees on |
|
|
appropriations has each expressed concern about children of |
|
|
families in immigrant detention centers, and has stated that family |
|
|
detention should be the last alternative and not the first; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Studies have shown high rates of immigration court |
|
|
appearances for people in supervised release programs; A valid |
|
|
alternative to detaining immigrant families would be to release and |
|
|
reunite these children and their parents but monitor them under |
|
|
supervised release programs, thereby reducing the emotional |
|
|
consequences to young children; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Supervised release programs cost American taxpayers |
|
|
significantly less than detention; Considering the long-term |
|
|
consequences of family detention for children and the nation's |
|
|
economic well-being, every possible alternative to family |
|
|
detention should be examined, considered, and exhausted before such |
|
|
action is taken; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby respectfully request that the U.S. Department of Homeland |
|
|
Security consider all alternatives to the detention of immigrant |
|
|
and asylum-seeking families with children; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|
|
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, the |
|
|
speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the |
|
|
senate of the United States Congress, all members of the Texas |
|
|
delegation to the congress, and the secretary of the United States |
|
|
Department of Homeland Security, with the request that this |
|
|
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a |
|
|
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |