Houston – The federal government and lawyers for immigrant children have announced an agreement to improve conditions at the nation’s main family-detention center for illegal-immigrant suspects.
The deal involves the 512-bed T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, which houses about 400 asylum-seekers and others suspected of being in the country illegally, about half of whom are children and teenagers.
When it opened last year, the privately run facility was to be a model for a tougher federal immigration policy in which more people suspected of being illegal immigrants would be held instead of released before hearings. But the center drew protests when it was reported that immigrant children were inadequately fed, deprived of toys and confined to cells with open toilets.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the immigration clinic at the University of Texas Law School sued federal officials on behalf of 26 immigrant children and teenagers, seeking their release and improved conditions at the center.
The agreement, announced as a trial had been set to begin Monday, requires improving education, recreation and nutrition for children, hiring a full-time pediatrician and installing privacy curtains around toilets. It provides for inspections by a federal magistrate.
“This is a huge victory,” said Vanita Gupta, a lawyer with the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU.
LOS ANGELES
Jets bump at airport; no injuries reported
An Alaska Airlines jet bumped into another Monday while pulling away from a gate at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. No one was injured.
The Alaska Boeing 737 carrying 117 passengers to Washington was pushing back from its gate when its left winglet made contact with another Alaska jet, said airline spokeswoman Amanda Tobin Bielawski.
The winglet, a small vertical fin on the outer tip of a wing, was damaged. The second plane, a parked and empty Boeing 737, had damage to its tail.
Passengers were rebooked on other flights, she said.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate, said agency spokesman Mike Fergus.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Bill bans teen drivers from using cellphones
Teen drivers would be barred from driving while using cellphones of any kind – even if fitted with hands-free equipment – under legislation passed Monday by the California Assembly.
The bill would prohibit drivers younger than 18 from using text-messaging devices, laptop computers or pagers. If signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would take effect in July.
Violators would be fined $20 for a first offense; repeat offenders could receive a $50 fine.
WASHINGTON
Inspections ordered after jet fire in Japan
Federal regulators ordered airlines to inspect the wings of more than 700 Boeing jets in response to a fire that destroyed a plane after it landed in Japan last week, officials said Monday.
The inspections will affect more than 780 next-generation Boeing 737s operated by U.S. carriers, including AirTran and American, Southwest and Continental airlines.
The Federal Aviation Administration order focuses on the planes’ slats, which are attached to the front edge of both wings and are deployed during takeoffs and landings to increase lift.
The order was prompted by an accident involving a China Airlines 737, which erupted in a fireball after landing on the Japanese island of Okinawa on Aug. 20, FAA officials said. All 165 people on board escaped uninjured.
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Army issues warning on role of religion
On the eve of a devout Muslim’s expected accession to the country’s presidency, Turkey’s resolutely secular military leadership issued a sharp warning Monday against any attempt to erode the constitutional separation of religion and state.
The strongly worded statement by the powerful army chief of staff was not expected to derail today’s election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul by lawmakers. Gul needs only a simple majority of votes in parliament, which his party dominates.
Nonetheless, the army’s warning illustrated the rift over the role of Islam in public life.
“The Turkish armed forces, as in the past, will never deviate from its determined stance and its duty of protecting and guarding the democratic, secular … Turkish republic,” Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military’s general staff, said in a statement.
Without mentioning Gul or his party by name, the statement referred to “furtive plans” meant to “destroy the Turkish republic’s secular and democratic structure.”
In past years, such language might have been the prelude to a coup; the military has carried out four against civilian rule since 1960.
But analysts and commentators generally agreed that the strong mandate given to the ruling party by voters last month made any such intervention highly unlikely.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Official quits, protests president’s dual role
A Cabinet minister resigned Monday to protest President Pervez Musharraf’s plans to run for re-election while remaining head of the army.
In the first sign of Cabinet-level trouble for the president, Ishaq Khan Khakwani, the state minister for information technology and telecommunication, said in his resignation letter that as a member of Parliament, he would still support Musharraf’s re-election, but only if he were to relinquish the post of chief of army staff.
