Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Operation Streamline began in Del Rio, Texas back in 2005, It made its way to Tucson three years later, and now operates in a total of seven border cities. After migrants are apprehended by the Border Patrol, oftentimes while crossing the Sonoran Desert, some are put in temporary detention facilities and others forced to sign paperwork in English, which many of them do not understand, and by doing so they agree to immediate deportation back to Mexico and other native countries."The session will offer a context of why the Latino population is booming in prison right now, and how much state money is being allocated to Operation Streamline," says Liane Hernandez of the YWCA.
But every day, at least 70 migrants who are apprehended are then prosecuted in federal court. They get less than 20 minutes to talk to a public defender. They are shackled and given no option but to plead guilty to illegal entry, which leads to a sentence of up to six months in prison. They are then deported, except now with a felony conviction in their record.
Tags: mass incarceration , prison , immigration , operation streamline , American Friends Service Committee , mi familia vota , ywca. margo cowan