Vaccine Overdose to Detained Children Another Sign that Family Detention Must End

AILA Doc No. 15070460 | Dated July 4, 2015

CONTACTS:
George Tzamaras 202-507-7649 gtzamaras@aila.org	Wendy Feliz 202-812-2499 wfeliz@immcouncil.org

Washington D.C. - This weekend, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Immigration Council (Council) learned that, recently, medical personnel at the detention center in Dilley, Texas that holds nearly 2,000 children and their mothers mistakenly gave adult-strength Hepatitis A vaccinations to approximately 250 children.

"Volunteer attorneys at Dilley, as well as those at similar detention centers in Karnes, TX, Berks, PA and the previous facility in Artesia, NM, have long noted disturbing patterns of what appears to be inadequate health care for the women and children. This latest permutation is beyond appalling-it is putting children at risk not just for short-term reactions but for unknown long-term risks," said Crystal Williams, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"Imprisoning children and their mothers was wrong when it was started a year ago, and is wrong today. Just because the detention camps have no bars on the windows does not make them any less like a prison. Children have been forced to sleep with the lights on, are subject to intrusive checks regularly throughout the night, and have been dragged from their beds at 4:00 am to be given shots while their mothers must stand helplessly by without being told what is going on or being allowed a say in the matter," Ms. Williams added.

"This latest healthcare failure at Dilley is one of many indicators that family detention is just not workable. The Administration has recently acknowledged the need for 'substantial changes' to their practice of detaining families. It needs to abandon the effort entirely, and return to a more humane and cost effective system where families are released, on alternatives when necessary, to ensure the safety and well-being of the children. This needs to happen now, before any further damage is done to their physical and mental health," stated Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council.

AILA and the Council have been partnering with two other organizations, CLINIC and RAICES, to provide volunteer legal servicesto detained women and children in Dilley and Karnes. Our staff and volunteers on the ground work with the women and children every day and have witnessed the deleterious effects of detention on the families.

Cite as AILA Doc. No. 15070460.

How do I obtain legal information? 

Your law library should have information on immigration law and procedure. If you do not have a lawyer, you can also write to your local service provider or Detention Watch Network at: 

www.detentionwatchnetwork.org. 

• The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights package has excellent legal materials: Florence Project Main Office, 2601 N. Hwy 79, PO Box 654, Florence, AZ – 85232. 

• For specific legal questions, contact the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild at 14 Beacon Street, Suite 602, Boston, MA 02114. 

• Families for Freedom also has excellent information for detainees. Contact information: 2 Washington Street, 766 North New York NY 10004. HOW DO I SEND THE GOVERNMENT A COMPLAINT ABOUT DETENTION CONDITIONS? 5 COMPLAINT ABOUT DETENTION CONDITIONS (cont’d.) Make sure all the people are listed on the same complaint. Send copies to family and your lawyer. 

Then, try to resolve the issue with your deportation officer or local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. If local authorities fail to respond, submit the complaint in writing to the following offices: 

Mr. Timothy Perry, Acting Chief of the Detention Acquisition and Support Branch, ICE Office of Detention and Removal, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 801 "I" Street, Suite 980, Washington, D.C. 20536. 

Department of Homeland Security, Mail Stop #0800, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Washington, DC 20528. Tel: 202.401.1474, 202.401.0470 (Local TTY); Toll Free: 1.866.644.8360; E-mail: civil.liberties@dhs.gov. 

If the complaint concerns medical and mental health care, send a copy to: Captain Philip Jarres, Branch Chief of Field Operations for the United States Public Health Service, 1220 L Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005. Tel: 202.732.0100.

After reporting the complaint to DHS, please send a hard copy to the National Immigrant Justice Center. This organization has a database of complaints about treatment or abuse in detention centers. Information from this database will be used to document trends in detention centers. 

Your personal information will be protected. 

National Immigrant Justice Center, 208 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 1818, Chicago, IL 60604 2. American Bar Association, Commission on Immigration, 740 Fifteenth Street, NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005-1022