Today I volunteered some time at our town's charter school's library. I loved it. I really miss being around and organizing books. Plus I get a major warm fuzzy knowing I am helping get books in kids' hands. Very, very gratifying.

But let me get to today's entry......

I don't think innocent children should be imprisoned. Seems like a pretty obvious moral value right? But I have been hearing stories of this happening - right here in America! Seems unfathomable....but here is an excerpt from my ACLU newsletter email I got today:

U.S. HOLDS IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN PRISON-LIKE CONDITIONS

The ACLU filed lawsuits on behalf of ten immigrant children this week, who are being held illegally in a Texas medium-security prison which has been converted into a "Family Residential Facility." Approximately 400 people are currently detained at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas, half of them children.

The lawsuits filed against Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as six officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), charge that these children are being imprisoned under inhumane conditions while their parents await immigration decisions.

In a facility that is still functionally and structurally a prison, children are required to wear prison garb, detained in small cells for 11-12 hours each day where they cannot keep food and toys, and denied all privacy, even when using the toilet. According to legal papers, some children did not go outdoors in the fresh air during the whole month of December 2006.

Despite urgent needs, many children lack access to adequate medical, dental, and mental health treatment, and are denied meaningful educational opportunities. Guards frequently discipline children by threatening to separate them permanently from their parents, and children are prohibited from having contact visits with non-detained family members.

"The choice is not between enforcement of immigration laws and humane treatment of immigrant families. There are various alternatives under which both can exist," said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director of the ACLU of Texas.

To read messages from the children of Hutto, hear audio podcasts from ACLU attorneys and learn more about the case, go to: http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=gc1cKQTGIDDqsyLIbm6a2w..


I don't understand how this is happening. How can we, as Americans, justify this to ourselves? I was raised to help the suffering....especially children. Is my value system just a naive dream? Is the America I was raised to love and respect just a mirage?

Is it unpatriotic of me to believe in equality and justice for all? Even immigrant children?

It is heartbreaking on many different levels.

Peace