This 11-Year-Old Was Locked Up Trying to Cross the Border. Read the Heartfelt Letter She Sent Obama.

*This has value as a first person report on the condition inside one of the federal immigrant detention centers. The 11 year-old writer and her mother say they might return to Honduras (read self-deport to a bad place because the place they’re in is worse). VL

By Molly Redden, Mother Jones

On Tuesday of last week, the nation’s top immigration court allowed a Guatemalan woman who fled her abusive husband to petition for asylum in the United States. It’s a landmark ruling that immigrant rights advocates hope will protect women who have escaped horrific marital violence in countries besides Guatemala.

One of those women is a Honduran named Rosemary. In June, she entered the US with Daniela, her 11-year-old daughter, and both were detained near the border. Rosemary and Daniela are currently detained in a makeshift facility in Artesia, New Mexico, set up by the Department of Homeland Security. They are seeking asylum after fleeing Daniela’s father, who allegedly beat and choked Rosemary for three years before the two escaped. (Rosemary asked me to withhold their last name.)

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy Mother Jones]