AP
August 10, 2015
Five
immigrant mothers held in facilities with their children are seeking
millions of dollars in damages from the U.S. government for what they
contend is psychological
and physical harm as a result of being detained , according to court
papers filed Monday.
Andrew
Free, a Nashville immigration lawyer representing the women, filed tort
claims against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging the
detained women and their
children received inadequate medical care, suffered psychological
trauma and in some cases were wrongfully imprisoned.
The
tort claims, a precursor to a federal lawsuit, also target U.S. Customs
and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE
oversees two family
detention centers in South Texas and another in Pennsylvania that
currently hold about 1,400 people.
The
filing comes just days after the government fought a federal judge's
ruling calling for the immediate release of children and their mothers
from detention, saying
it intends to turn the facilities into short-term processing centers
and that limiting family detention could spark another surge in
immigrants from Central America.
Tens
of thousands of immigrant families, mostly from Central America,
crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. last summer. Many have petitioned
for asylum after fleeing gang
and domestic violence back home.
ICE
spokeswoman Gillian Christensen refused to comment on the pending
litigation as a matter of policy. But she said the agency ensures that
the centers operate in an
"open environment" and are "an effective and humane alternative for
maintaining family unity as families go through immigration proceedings
or await return to their home countries." The facilities provide access
to play areas, educational services, medical
care and legal help, she said. ICE officials have also said that it was
necessary to detain families to ensure they didn't vanish.
But
Free said that the reality of family detention is far different and
that the government has "fallen below the standard of care that they owe
to these detainees," as
well as violated their rights as asylum seekers by using detention as a
deterrent.
"We
expect this will be the first in a large set of filings on the
mistreatment of these women and children on behalf of the government,"
Free said.
Claimants
in the 60-page filing, all from Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador,
include a woman who said she received poor care for an injured ear
because she could not
speak to the medical staff in her indigenous language. Another said her
children were among 250 kids given an erroneously high dose of a
hepatitis A vaccine, despite their having proof of previous vaccination.
A mother and daughter fleeing gang violence and
held for more than six months were both diagnosed by a psychologist
with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression exacerbated by their
long detention.
A
Honduran mother reported that her 8-year-old daughter attempted to
breast-feed again, and another woman and her son said they had
languished in detention for 28 days
after having passed their credible fear interview, the first legal
hurdle for asylum. When the same woman sought treatment for her broken
fingers and wrist, she was allegedly told to "drink more water" by
medical staff and her son was rushed to the hospital
after "a virus apparently had gone untreated for a dangerously long
time," according to the court papers.
"By
bearing witness and helping these women assert these claims, we are
undermining the government's narrative that this is a kindler gentler,
detention policy," Free
said.
More
than 170 House Democrats have asked that Homeland Security end family
detention. Immigrant rights organizations have filed complaints asking
for investigations into
the facilities, which include similar allegations of inadequate medical
care and detention exacerbating or causing psychological trauma.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment