Migrant family detention under new scrutiny after mother attempts suicide

Migrant family detention under new scrutiny after mother attempts suicide

Teen mother found unresponsive at the Karnes detention camp in Texas left note accusing officials of treating her ‘like an animal’

Ed Pilkington in New York
@edpilkington
Saturday 6 June 2015 11.10 EDT

The US government’s heavily criticised policy of detaining mothers and children in prison-like conditions has come under renewed scrutiny after one migrant woman tried to kill herself this week, having left a suicide note that accused immigration officials of treating her “like an animal”.

Lilian Yamileth, a 19-year-old mother at the Karnes detention camp in Texas, was found apparently unresponsive in a locked bathroom at the facility on Wednesday, after she attempted to kill herself. She has been held in the centre along with her four-year-old son since last October.

Yamileth survived, having been given medical attention by staff inside the centre. But the note she wrote expressed her despair and anger at the way she and other mothers have been treated by the Obama administration, under its policy of keeping immigrant families under lock and key rather than releasing them into the community while their claims for asylum are processed.

“I write this letter so you know how it feels to be in this damn place for eight months,” she wrote.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/06/family-detention-centers-renewed-scrutiny-migrant-mother-suicide-attempt