Destructive Detention
Dear Editor,
Hello! My name is Anais Long and I’m a high school student here in Austin. I would like to discuss the Dilley detention center, more specifically the distress the people being held in this center are facing, to your readers. The inhumane conditions that are presented by this center are absolutely unacceptable – we can do better. I, as a member of the Austin youth, feel as though I have a moral responsibility to advocate for the kids the same age as me, if not younger, to help their suffering at these facilities and attempt to give all people their due process.
Growing up, I saw our administration as an honest, respectable organization that has people’s best interest at heart – especially one that wholeheartedly respects its citizens. However, with recent years, I am horrified to see the negligence and complete discriminatory ideals that this administration represents and advocates for.
Furthermore, Trump’s Department of Justice is aiming to dismantle the Flores Settlement Agreement, a decades-old court mandate that limits child detention and provides critical protections. If this settlement is terminated, it would lead to the indefinite incarceration of kids and families alike with little to no oversight – it’s clear to me the administration has no regard for the well-being of children. Even with this agreement, medical and child welfare professionals have repeatedly noted that the environment of these centers are especially harmful to children, leading to life-long mental and emotional health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression, among other behavioral health problems. Due to this, globally people are uniting to protect the immigrant community, by calling to shut down existing detention centers.
Sincerely,
Anais Long
Ill Communication
Dear Editor,
At this time of polarization, I look for issues on which all of us can agree, and it seems to me that one of those is that we should expect our members of Congress to communicate with us, receive our correspondence and phone calls, and explain their votes.
The administration plans to ask Congress to approve $1 billion in taxpayer money for a ballroom opposed by almost 60% of Americans. Also, the administration awarded an almost $7 million contract with no bids to a firm used by the president for his properties’ pools, and in fact that cost has now grown to $13 million.
When I called my congresswoman today and asked a staff member for the congresswoman’s position on these two proposals, I was told the congresswoman had not put out a statement about those expenses. I asked if a statement would be forthcoming, and the staff member told me she didn’t know.
My congresswoman will not inform her constituents whether she will vote to use our tax money to fund two unpopular and corruptly constructed projects and why.
Whatever one’s position on these projects, we must demand more from our “representatives.”
Cathy Murphree
Do As I Say…
Dear Editor,
Ken Paxton wants school districts across the state to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms “to ensure that Texas kids are able to learn from [them] daily.” I propose that educators use Paxton and Trump as examples when teaching children the Seventh Commandment: “Thou shall not commit adultery.”
Preferably daily.
Dorit Suffness
This article appears in May 15 • 2026.