The Karnes County Residential Center in Texas for migrant mothers and children remains in turmoil following the attempted suicide of a detained teenage mother and the abrupt release of five pregnant mothers amid scrutiny of their detention and health care. McClatchy
The Karnes County Residential Center in Texas for migrant mothers and children remains in turmoil following the attempted suicide of a detained teenage mother and the abrupt release of five pregnant mothers amid scrutiny of their detention and health care. McClatchy
With a blue pen, the teenage mother sat down and wrote about life locked up with her 4-year-old son at a Texas family detention center that was “killing me little by little.”
She started:
“I write this letter so you know how it feels to be in this damn place for eight months,” Lilian Oliva Bardales, 19, wrote in Spanish.
The carefully penned note, with small circles for the dots of the i’s, was found in Oliva’s room Wednesday afternoon after the Honduran native was found bleeding from cuts to her wrist in a Karnes County Residential Center bathroom in an apparent suicide attempt, according to her lawyer.
In her two-page letter, she directly confronts the government officials who would possibly find the note. She reasons that they may not be parents and therefore cannot understand the pain of being locked up and “treated worse than an animal.”
McClatchy attained a copy of the note after residents found it and gave it to a lawyer.
The Obama administration’s use of family detention has come under increased public and media scrutiny in recent weeks as allegations of poor conditions have emerged from the facilities that today house more than 760 people, mostly women and children. On Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released five detained pregnant mothers and their children after McClatchy reported on their detainment and pregnancy care.
Detained teen mom writes note before cutting wrist in apparent suicide attempt
Lilian Oliva, 19, was discovered in a family detention center bathroom bleeding from cuts to her wrist. The Obama administration revived the controversial practice of family detention after tens of thousands of mothers and children fled Central America last year.
Oliva's note:
I write this letter so you know how it feels to be in this damn place for 8 months
you don't understand that people's lives has no price and you cannot buy it with money
you don't have a heart for anybody you just lie and humiliate all of us who have come to this country for the second time if I do this is because only God knows what I have suffered in my country
I come here so this country can help me but here you've been killing me little by little with punishment and lies in prison when I haven't committed any crime
what hurts me the most is that I saw how my brother was killed and how it’s hurt my son and all the abuse that we suffered in my country
you don't believe me you never wanted to give me my freedom I do this because I would rather be dead than seeing my son fail along with me
maybe you are not fathers or mothers to understand the reasons and the suffering that we live in this place together with our children
you would not like to be locked up in a place like this the way we are here suffering with our children
what I tell you is that nobody lives forever in this world one day we are all going to die and give an account to God
I do this because I don't feel any life going back to my country
that's why I waited so long so you could take a decision on my case but you have treated us worse than an animal
you look down on us you don't give us the opportunity that you give to the persons that come to this country for the first time you make us wait in this prison if we do not come the first time is because only us know the threats of violence against us
I spoke the truth some other people come for 2 or 15 days and they leave some others [REDACTED] is their first time they are given a bail and we just see how they leave
but for us nothing is given and I hope you understand that we all need a chance to have a bail to leave or leave with the shackle if there is nothing else
that's why I do this because you were bad to me and my son we did not deserve this now you want to deport me after spending 8 months here
Note provided by the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, an immigration rights group
Once an almost abandoned practice, family detention was reintroduced last year as the Department of Homeland Security’s response to the tens of thousands of migrant women and children who fled Central America seeking asylum from violence and persecution. There are currently three family detention centers, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials contend that the family residential centers are a humane alternative, by keeping families together as they await their immigration hearings or are deported.
Videos of the Karnes City and Dilley, Texas, facilities provided by ICE show kids playing video games and laughing on soccer fields.
Officials confirmed Thursday that a detainee “had a surface-level abrasion” on her wrist, saying it was “a non-life threatening injury.” But advocates said residents reported watching as staff cleaned up her blood.
She is receiving specialized mental health care, officials said.
While stating that the injury was minor, federal officials denied Oliva’s lawyer access to see her Thursday, said another of her attorneys, Javier Maldonado.
“If it’s not a very serious medical issue, there is no reason he shouldn’t see her,” Maldonado said. “In fact, the lawyer should see her to find out what happened and what could be done for her.”
Oliva fled Honduras, where she was the victim of domestic violence from her partner, who is six years older than she is. In her asylum interview, she told federal officials that her brother was killed because he worked for drug traffickers. She said she was also raped by three men, but authorities wouldn’t do anything.
Oliva lost her latest appeal last month. She has been previously deported, so she is considered a flight risk if she were released with a notice to appear for her next court hearing. But her attorney, Maldonado, said there is no reason to continue to hold her and her son. He said she could be given an ankle bracelet or required to report to authorities on a weekly basis. He also said she should qualify for the recently announced policy change that call for reviews of those detained the longest.
“I think this is a time for ICE to consider releasing this family,” he said. “They’re only inflating more pain and misery on them.”
In her letter, Oliva is clearly angry that her appeals have been denied. She’s frustrated over enduring eight months of detention and now expects to be deported.
“I do this because I don’t feel any life going back to my country,” she wrote.
California Republican Party Chair Jim Brulte is sounding a warning on the GOP needing to appeal more to Asian and Latino Americans. California House Republicans don’t know how to do that.
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