Thread: Guards in an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed detainees in a “pattern and practice” of abuse, according to a complaint filed by a Texas advocacy group.
With @propublica: bit.ly/3axgFoE
With @propublica: bit.ly/3axgFoE
2/ The allegations, detailed in a filing first obtained by @ProPublica and @TexasTribune, maintain that guards systematically abused at least 3 people in a facility overseen by @ICEGov — often in areas of the facility not visible to security cameras.
3/ The guards told victims that no one would believe them because footage did not exist and the harassment involved officers as high-ranking as a lieutenant.
4/ This complaint urges the local district attorney and federal prosecutors to conduct a criminal investigation.
5/ A spokesperson for ICE wrote in an email that the agency was aware of the accusations and that they would be investigated, including by its Office of Professional Responsibility.
6/ The spokesperson wrote that the agency has “zero tolerance for any form of sexual abuse or assault against individuals in the agency’s custody and takes very seriously all allegations of employee misconduct.”
7/ These allegations are the latest instance of sexual abuse complaints lodged against detention centers run by ICE, which imprisons about 50,000 immigrants across the country each year — mostly through contractors at a taxpayer expense of $2.7 billion.
8/ According to the complaint, several guards “forcibly” kissed and touched the intimate parts of at least one woman.
She faces deportation next week — meaning investigators could lose a key witness.
She faces deportation next week — meaning investigators could lose a key witness.
9/ The woman said in a telephone interview that she would rather return to Mexico, even though she is in danger there.
She said she worried about being targeted in the detention center for speaking up about the abuse.
She said she worried about being targeted in the detention center for speaking up about the abuse.
10/ Since the complaint was filed Wednesday, two more women, including one who is currently detained in the El Paso facility and one who was previously held there, have come forward with abuse allegations.
11/ Detainees told lawyers that at least one other woman was deported after a guard assaulted her.
12/12 These accusations came to light when one of the women, a 32-year-old Salvadoran, was released because of a medical condition and told an attorney that she feared for the detainees still there.
Read more: bit.ly/3axgFoE
Read more: bit.ly/3axgFoE
