Latino leaders and children gathered in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to once again call for the end of family detention.

As families commemorate the Holiday season, the Congressional Women's Working Group on Immigration Reform and the We Belong Together organization spoke against immigrant family detention centers and allowed people to hear first hand accounts of the detention experience.

Caritza and her 5-year-old son Alejandro were previously detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a detention facility created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. At Wednesday's press conference, Alejandro and his mother described the experiences of fleeing their native country and treatment in Dilley.

"There are so many organizations that are fighting to close these detention centers and I just ask God that they achieve that. The kids hate to be locked up. My son would ask, 'When can we leave? When can we leave?'" said Caritza.

As part of We Belong Together's "A Wish for the Holidays" campaign, handwritten letters were in display, made by children who will spend the holidays inside detention centers and wish for their release.

"While some changes have been made to improve conditions at these centers and reduce the length of detention, the fact is they remain jail-like settings," said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. "Detention of children is cruel and misguided, and the suffering and negative impact on these young developing minds is unacceptable. I echo the wish of the children here today to call for an end to family detention."

While Roybal-Allard recognized that the U.S. is a country of laws, she added that it is also "a country of compassion" -- a characteristic that must be shown in the treatment of immigrant women and children.

As Latin Post reported, 178 House Democrats, including Roybal-Allard, penned a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to end family detention. Johnson and the Obama administration, however, have defended the use of detention centers.

Last July, U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled against the detainment of immigrant women and children last month, stating the federal government violated the 1997 Flores v. Reno settlement that prohibited the detainment of migrant parents and children together unless there's a significant flight risk or public safety threat. According to court documents, the Obama administration claimed the potential elimination of expedited deportation "could cause another notable increase in the numbers of parents choosing to cross the border with their children" and asked Gee to reconsider to decision.

"We have made some progress over the past couple of years, but we have not achieved our goal of stopping the practice of holding moms and kids in detention when there are more efficient, cost-effective, and humane ways to handle them," said Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill. "People seeking asylum, fleeing violence in Central America or fleeing systematic oppression anywhere in the world, we are fighting for the government to treat families and moms and children with respect, to use tax-money as efficiently as possible, and to end the practice of family detention."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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