Free the Children: Protest of the T. Don Hutto Detention Facility

A crowd gathered together on a hot Texas afternoon; people traveled from all over the state to stand together. Over fifty different organizations where represented, and people from all different cultural backgrounds gathered in solidarity. There were hundreds of signs and banners, and an American flag blew in the hot summer breeze. The organizer, Jay Johnson-Castro, spoke to the group that had gathered in Heritage Park and talked about how they could affect change.

The march began on the corner of Main and 4th streets, and lead by a police escort they marched to the detention facility. Over three hundred people marched down Main Street, most holding signs and most chanting to free the children. As the protested marched over the bridge that passes over the railroad tracks, the detention facility was barely visible in the distance. Hidden on the “other side of the tracks” behind a low income neighborhood, the detention facility is far from view of the residents of Taylor.

As the march came to the other side of the bridge the protesters turned onto Walnut Street, and walked through a low income neighborhood. Then the protesters marched through a public baseball field; a field that is within view of the playground area of the detention facility. The imprisoned children must literally watch free children play baseball. It was in front of this field where the marched paused, and acknowledged the children that are incarcerated in the detention facility. The protesters then marched around the facility meeting the Cesar Chavez delegation and stopping at the front gates of the facility.

It was in front of the T. Don Hutto detention facility that the protest took place in blazing heat; several activist spoke at a make shift stage. Vehicles lined the road in front of the detention facility and several cars that drove through the protest gave approving honks and thumbs up.

The focus of the protest was the children that are incarcerated inside the facility and many of the protest signs where asking for the children to be freed. During one portion of the protest Johnson-Castro spoke about the United Nations Rights of the Child, which only the United States and Somalia have not ratified. Protesters held up signs with free the children written in fifty different languages, representing the over fifty different nationalities held inside the facility.
Some of the speakers included: Rosa Rosales, President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Antonio Diaz, from the Texas Indigenous Council; Jaime Martinez, from the Cesar Chavez March for Justice Foundation; Gabriel Valesquez, President of Inner City Advocates; Daniel San Miguel, from the Brown Berets; Tony Mandujano, from the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; Jim Rigby, Minister of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.



There was some media in the crowd; KPFT 90.1FM Houston (Pacifica Radio) and the Independent Media Center of Houston was covering the protest. An Austin area twenty-four hour news station, Channel 8, covered the events, and posted an article about the protest. There was also a reporter from the Austin-American Statesman; however, there has not been a story posted or any other coverage about the event.

After almost three hours the protest ended. Everyone at the protest had the freedom to drive home, however, for the detainees inside the complex freedom is only an abstract concept.