Here & Now

Immigration Lawyer: Detention Center Conditions 'Inhumane'

Frederica Freyberg:
Now to national news and a Wisconsin connection to the ongoing challenges faced by U.S. immigrants, specifically immigrants in Texas, who are in need of legal help. A team of UW Law School students returned this week from Dilley, Texas, where they counseled immigrants facing court proceedings at the south Texas residential facility. Erin Barbato is the director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the UW Law School. She oversaw the work in Texas. Thanks very much for being here.

Erin Barbato:
Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
So, as we said, you and your students worked at this facility that houses like 2,000 mothers and children mostly, and they are waiting, their interviews, called credible fear interviews, which they have to undergo to seek asylum in the U.S. What did you learn?

Erin Barbato:
I learned a lot on this trip, more than I anticipated. So there are up to 2400 beds for women and children at this facility. It’s the largest immigrant detention facility in the country. And what we learned is that there is a huge need for legal representation in a very tiny town in Texas near the border. We worked really long hours to help as many women as we could to work for their credible fear interviews.

Frederica Freyberg:
What find of credible fears did they describe to you?

Erin Barbato:
Really horrific, credible stories of violence that they experienced in home country, rape, murder of family members, threats to murder their children. It was incredibly intense what these women have– are fleeing.

Frederica Freyberg:
And how successful were you in helping them through this process on to the next step?

Erin Barbato:
We don’t necessarily know if they passed their credible fear interviews after we help them prepare because it takes up to seven days for them to receive their credible fear positive or credible fear negative finding. So we didn’t know necessarily if all the women we helped are now in the United States seeking asylum or if they’ve been deported to their home countries.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what is it like for the mothers and their children in these and other facilities in the U.S. waiting for word about whether they will in fact be deported or will be granted asylum?

Erin Barbato:
The conditions in one word are inhumane because these women are victims of abuse, torture, persecution. When they come to this country, they’re fleeing that persecution. Once they cross the border, then they’re placed in a jail. Well, family separation should never happen. Family detention also should never happen.

Frederica Freyberg:
So these facilities are more jail-like than they are shelter-like?

Erin Barbato:
They have no choice to leave. They are in uniforms or clothing provided by CoreCivic is the company, the private company that runs the facility. And yeah, they are not allowed to leave so it is what some people call a baby jail.

Frederica Freyberg:
And what are the numbers as to how many people, presumably many of them have these credible fears of returning, but how many of those people are granted asylum?

Erin Barbato:
I’m not sure what the exact number is in terms of how many of these women particularly at that facility then are successful in their asylum claims. But from the stories I heard, I would be pretty certain that most of them would be successful.

Frederica Freyberg:
Just very briefly, what should people in the United States know about this process that you know about?

Erin Barbato:
They should open their eyes, because right now this facility is far from the view of the public. I’m not sure if that’s on purpose or just because of the situation near the border. But if more people saw the conditions that these women and children were forced to live in and the lack of due process and access to legal representation, people would be irate.

Frederica Freyberg:
Erin Barbato, thanks very much.

Erin Barbato:
Thank you.