Programs Detention & Asylum The Least of These: Family Detention in U.S.
The Least of These is a remarkable new documentary on immigration that premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival March 13-22 in Austin, Texas. By telling the poignant and powerful stories of imprisoned immigrants and their American advocates, it draws attention to one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. immigration policy: family detention. The Least of These provides an in-depth portrait of the controversial T. Don Hutto Residential Center—a former medium-security prison in Taylor, TX that houses immigrant children and their parents as they await asylum hearings or deportation proceedings.
Michelle Brané, director of the Women's Refugee Commission's Detention and Asylum Program, is featured in the film with immigration attorneys Barbara Hines of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and Vanita Gupta of the ACLU. Brané's groundbreaking work on family detention allowed activists their first look at the facility's prison-like conditions (as described in "Locking Up Family Values," the Women's Refugee Commission report released with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in 2007).
The commitment of NGOs, attorneys and advocates—and the spotlight on U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the facility itself—have led to positive changes. Yet as Brané says in the film, "There is no way to detain families without calling into question...family values, family structure, parental rights, children's rights." Brané, along with Emily Butera, the Women's Refugee Commission's detention and asylum program officer and co-author of "Locking Up Family Values," will be returning to the Hutto facility to view the improvements firsthand.
The Least of These, co-produced/co-directed by Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda and produced by Marcy Garriott, premiered at SXSW on Monday, March 16 with a Q&A after each screening featuring the directors, Barbara Hines, Michelle Brané and former detainees. View screenings since the premiere.
For more on The Least of These, visit the official website. Watch the entire film at Snagfilms.com (62 minutes).
To learn more about the Women's Refugee Commission's ongoing work on detention and asylum, click here.
