Offi ce ofthe Assistant Secretary
U.S. Depa rtment of Homeland Secur ity
425 I Street, NW
Washington, DC 20536

u.s. Immigration

and Customs
Enforcement
APR 2 9 2008
Ms. Tara Magner
Director of Policy
National Immigrant Justice Center
208 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1818
Chicago,IL 60614....r­

DearMs.~l~
I am writing to thank you once again for the invaluable help you have provided ICE in the past
concerning detention and residential standards and for your continued commitment to help ICE
in the future. Your substantive comments on ICE's new family residential standards and your
ongoing comments to the adult, performance-based standards are much appreciated. I
understand that commenting on revised standards can be tedious, but I am grateful to your
contributions and hope we can have continuing dialogue on issues of mutual concern. As you
know, the safe and humane treatment of individuals in ICE's custody remains of paramount
importance to me.
I also would like to inform you that ICE's Juvenile and Family Residential Unit (JFRMU) will
allow families to purchase and receive long-distance calling cards from family members, friends ,
and other concerned parties . Currently, it is anticipated that this new benefit will begin within
60 days and will apply to residents of the T. Don Hutto Residential facility in Taylor, Texas and
the Berks Family Shelter in Leesport, Pennsylvania only . The telephone systems at these
facilities will be changed to allow families to make national and international long-distance calls
with cards of their choosing. I am sure you will agree that this is a great benefit to families in
our care. Notices will be provided to families when they receive their initial orientation and in
binders located by the phones. These binders also contain contact information for low-cost and
pro-bono organizations as well as consular information at the calling stations.
Again, I thank you for your past support and I look forward to working with you on future issues
of mutual concern. Please feel free to share this information with the other interested advocacy
groups. Thanks again for all your help.
Sincerely,

~m

.u.:

Assistant Secretary

~

cc: Robert Glaves, Executive Director, Chicago Bar Foundation

www.ice.gov