ICYMI: Hinojosa Demands Release of Detained 5-Year-Old, Condemns Abbott’s Private Prison Corruption

Austin, TX — In case you missed it, yesterday, gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa joined community and faith leaders, along with US Reps Joaquin Castro, Jasmine Crockett, and Greg Casar in San Antonio, and more to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately release Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old detained at the Dilley Detention Facility in Texas, and to safely reunite him with his family in Minneapolis. Hinojosa condemned the cruelty and corruption behind ICE operations that are terrorizing communities while enriching private prison companies that have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Greg Abbott.

As Hinojosa said on MS NOW, “What is happening in Texas, and happening across this country, but mostly in Texas. We have the private prisons who are making money off every person that is being detained, even children.”

Texas is the only state in the nation that allows children to be detained in immigration facilities. The Dilley center is operated by CoreCivic, while the Karnes County facility is run by GEO Group, which has donated over $77,000 to Abbott’s campaigns. Abbott’s administration created a special licensing category in 2015 that allowed these facilities to detain children without meeting normal child care standards — shortly after the companies donated $55,000 to his campaign.

Check out just some of the coverage below:

MS NOW: Texas Democrat: Latinos in state are targeted as ‘not American enough’

KSENS5: Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa: “Fear is real” as ICE raids face scrutiny

Raw Story: Ex-RNC chair obliterates Greg Abbott’s ‘alphabet soup’ comments on ICE

• Former Republican National Committee chairman and MS NOW anchor Michael Steele slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent call for a “recalibration” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement strategy, accusing him of enabling the very environment that let ICE run wild in the first place by building a massive child detention facility for them.
• “I want to play Greg Abbott’s response because right now he thinks there needs to be a recalibration. I wonder why,” said Steele, speaking with Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who is running for the Democratic nomination to run against Abbott this year…
• “What is happening in Texas and happening across this country, but mostly in Texas, is that now we have the private prisons who are making money off every person that is being detained, even children, right?” she said. “So now there are these profit motives that are driving these raids. They’re also driving the incarceration of our children and our families. Greg Abbott allowed for the licensing of these children and their parents, the only state in the union that allows this. This happened after he received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from these private prisons. Now they’re talking about expanding detention centers and converting, in fact, an Amazon warehouse to store and warehouse human beings.”

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