06.12.07

Homeland Security Bill Funds Alternatives To Family Incarceration

Posted in Around The Nation, Around The State, Criminal Justice, Privatization, T. Don Hutto at 3:31 pm by wcnews

“..[T]here are more cost effective and humane alternatives to housing immigrants seeking amnesty”, as Jane Van Praag said in the TDP article on Saturday’s protest, 100 stage protest Saturday:

Jane Van Praag sat under an umbrella for much of the afternoon, holding her sign that read, “Prison is never in the best interest of a child.” Van Praag, who attended the eighth vigil on May 7, is the Democratic precinct chair for District 425 in Bartlett and said she learned of T. Don Hutto through Orta, a friend of hers.

“I think it is just to continue to reiterate our feelings that it is wrong to imprison children,” she said when asked about the repeated protests at the center.

Van Praag said she thinks there are more cost effective and humane alternatives to housing immigrants seeking amnesty.

“It makes me ashamed,” she said.

As if on cue News 8 is reporting today that the Homeland Security funding bill moving through Congress increases funding for alternative detention programs:

A Homeland Security spending bill heading to the U.S. House floor could lead to changes on where some detainees are held.

The measure adds about $11.3 million to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) budget. The money is earmarked for alternative detention programs and directs the agency to house families in facilities that are more like homes than prisons.

With a different president and local leadership this would be the first nail-in-the-coffin towards getting T. Don Hutto closed for detaining women and children. But as always with the current administration, no good deed goes unpunished, Veto Hangs Over Homeland Security Budget.

A Democratic plan to sharply boost the Homeland Security Department budget ran into a stern White House veto promise Tuesday as House debate loomed on the first of a dozen annual spending bills.

President Bush has not vetoed a domestic spending bill, and the homeland security measure is among the most popular with lawmakers. It is, however, larger than Bush requested.

So much for compassion.

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