Hearing Set In Lawsuit Over Licensing Of Detention Centers
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AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Lawyers for an immigrant rights group will ask a judge to block emergency rules issued by Texas health officials that would allow two immigrant family detention facilities to be licensed as residential child care centers.
A state district judge in Austin will hear their case Thursday as they seek an emergency injunction. The judge already issued a temporary restraining order late last month preventing Texas from proceeding with its emergency licensing process.
State licenses are needed because a federal judge ruled in August that detention facilities couldn't hold immigrant children without adequate licensing. The immigrant rights group has argued that licensing was being fast-tracked without proper procedure.
The government poured millions of dollars into two large detention centers in Texas for women and children after tens of thousands of immigrant families, mostly from Central America, crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. last summer. Many have petitioned for asylum after fleeing gang and domestic violence back home.
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