Texans often witness the complicated intersection of sovereign security, family rights and immigration issues in a way that few other states will ever know, due to the hundreds of miles of border it shares with Mexico. Just such a complex conflict is at the heart of a new bill recently proposed in the Texas Senate’s Veterans Affairs and Border Security Committee.
The bill seeks to loosen the guidelines around issuing licenses to childcare facilities, and for a surprising reason. The bills supporters, many Texas Republicans, claim that loosening the regulations surrounding issuing the licenses would allow several family detention centers to become licensed childcare providers. The move is framed as a was to keep families from being split up as the current administration’s focus on tightening immigration practices may split up many families.
However, the bills opponents claim that the bill creates de facto child prisons, a thing that should not be allowed to exist at all. Unfortunately, under current immigration law, those who families who are detained are not required to be housed together. In practice, this may mean separating many immigrant parents from their very young children because a detention center is not approved for all ages.
Certainly this issue touches on controversial points across a wide spectrum. Howver, family law is rarely simple, and a good attorney understands just how valuable protecting family rights is, regardless of what other issues must be dealt with along the way. If you have a troubling family law issue, do not wait to enlist the guidance of an attorney with years of experienced protecting families of all kinds.
Source: Huffington Post, “Texas Republicans Hope To Give Child Care Licenses To Family Detention Centers,” Roque Planas, March 30, 2017