Letters to the Editor
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Been like this for a while.
This used to happen all over the country.
I worked at a youth detention center in Montana for several years. INS would bring in kids for immigration issues, and we would book them like our other kids. They got strip searched and put into 8x8' cells with 300-pound steel doors and a security light that never turns off (so we could check them at night). These kids often spoke little English, and few of the staff had even a basic knowledge of Spanish, usually making the whole process even more awkward than usual. In a facility where the other youths had to be charged with either misdemeanors or felonies, the INS kids were simply here for not having the proper paperwork.
Our administrator made a point to let us know that the feds paid our facility more money than state and county agencies, and so we were to never turn them down if we had room.
The worst situation I remember involved a girl who kept crying in her cell for hours, stopping only to beg: "Ayudame! Ayudame!" My simple Spanish ability stood no chance against her panicky, rapid-fire questions. She had no clue what was going on, and none of us could articulate it well enough for her to understand.
Now that INS has become a part of ICE, the youth detention facilities in Montana no longer hold these kids unless they have committed crimes. It's sad to know that they're simply in a new location with all the same problems.