Archinect - News

American Institute of Architects denounces "misuse" of detention center buildings

2019-07-22T16:41:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architect (AIA) has issued a statement denouncing the inhumane conditions that have been discovered over recent weeks across the country at the detention centers where undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers are being detained.

The conditions as described by numerous media reports and congressional fact-finding missions to detention facilities make clear that these buildings are not designed to handle the sheer numbers of people in them nor do they sustain the health, safety, and welfare of their occupants, many of whom are women and children. Above all, the misuse of these buildings and the impact on occupants in them are contrary to our values as architects and as Americans.

Pointing to the organization's Code of Ethics, AIA urges that "the built environment promotes and preserves the health, safety, and welfare of every individual, and fosters universal respect for human dignity."

In addition, AIA argues that architects are well-prepared to "promote t...

Amid "concentration camp" debate, government moves migrants from Texas border site

2019-06-24T17:07:00-04:00

After the discovery of inhumane living conditions at a south Texas temporary detention facility made headlines last week, the United States Department of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has moved to relocate upwards of 300 detained migrant children to other sites.

The Associated Press reported last week that while lawyers with the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California, Davis inspected the facility to assess the detention conditions at the site, they discovered children caring for other children, children who had not bathed in days, inadequate food provisions, and a collection of other standard of living violations.

Holly Cooper, co-director of the University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic, told the AP, “In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention, I have never heard of this level of inhumanity."

According to the AP, the government allows for the children to be held by the Border Patrol for no longer than 72 hours, after which they must b...

As the U.S. loses more Mexican immigrants than it gains, the construction industry must adapt

2015-11-20T19:35:00-05:00

The number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined. In 2014, 5.6 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S., down by about 1 million since 2007. [...] Mexican unauthorized immigrants are more likely than unauthorized immigrants overall to work in the construction industry ... Among Mexican unauthorized immigrants ages 16 and older who were employed in 2012, 19% worked in construction and 13% worked in a wide range of businesses

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the trend of declining Mexican-born workers in the U.S. construction industry, leading to a total loss of half a million laborers since 2007. According to a Pew Research Study in "Hispanic Trends" from March of 2015, citing the most recent data through 2012, unauthorized immigrants account for 14% of the construction workforce overall:

Unauthorized immigrants made up 5.1% of the nation’s labor force in 2012, numbering 8.1 million who were working or looking for work, according to previously published Pew Research estimates (Passel and Cohn, 2014). But as this new analysis shows, they account for a far higher share of the total workforce in specific jobs, notably farming (26%), cleaning and maintenance (17%), and construction (14%).

Read the full report from the Pew Research Center for more information on the current state of the Mexican immigrant population in the U.S.