One Texas Family Detention Center Is Set to Close

The head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that the Karnes Family Residential Center located in Texas is scheduled to close. One of the three family detention centers in the U.S., Karnes currently has 500 beds. It was converted to a family detention center in 2014 “in response to the influx of unaccompanied minors and families fleeing violence in their home countries.” Since then, immigration and human rights groups have decried the prison-like conditions detained women and children face, including lack of food, poor medical care, emotional trauma, and sex abuse. The close date has not yet been released.

Detention centers are controversial in some quarters. The International Detention Coalition argued that detention should be reserved “when someone presents a risk of absconding from future legal proceedings or administrative processes or when someone presents a danger to their own or public security.” Instead, they have become a catchall for immigrants. Though the mission of the ICE “is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration,” critics argue that detention centers are often used as a place to hold non-offenders who pose no risk to anyone.

How the detention process works

The ICE can detain immigrants in a specific detention facility or in a local jail (if there is no room in the center). You can request a bond hearing to have your loved one released, but if you cannot pay the bond, or if you choose to fight the case, your loved one can be detained for months. The smart move if you or your family member is detained is to contact a Nashville immigration attorney as soon as you can. The government will not pay for the lawyer, because these are not criminal cases, but you are entitled to legal representation.

One option that ICE officials may offer the detainee is a voluntary departure. Basically, this means you agree to leave the country of your own free will, as opposed to risking removal. Many immigrants do not understand the repercussions of a voluntary departure and accept this deal before speaking to an immigration lawyer first.

If ICE finds that you have violated any immigration laws, it can remove you (deport you) from the country. This will bar you from returning to the U.S. for as long as 10 years, and you will need to file an I-212, Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal, if you wish to return. Not everyone who is removed from the U.S. will be eligible to apply for readmission.

If you are facing removal proceedings, or if your loved one is being held in an immigration detention center, you need an experienced Nashville immigration attorney on your side. To schedule an appointment at our office, please contact the Law Office of Perry A. Craft, PLLC today.