Reuters
June 10, 2015
Civil
rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Border
Patrol complaining immigrants were unlawfully held for extended periods
in freezing, filthy holding
cells in Arizona, plaintiffs' attorneys said on Wednesday.
The
lawsuit, on behalf of three undocumented immigrants detained at the
Tucson Border Patrol Station, says detainees are mistreated for days in
what were designed to be
hours-long holding cells in southern Arizona detention facilities.
The
complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson on Monday cited a wide
range of abuse and neglect, including being held in overcrowded cells
and denied adequate food,
water, sleep and medical care.
“With
the filing of this lawsuit, it’s no longer going to be possible for
Border Patrol to continue denying and ignoring its inhumane and
unconscionable mistreatment of
individuals in its custody,” said James Lyall, a plaintiff’s attorney
from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The
complaint, which seeks class-action status, asks a judge to order the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to improve detention
conditions.
The
filing targets one of the nation’s busiest sectors in dealing with the
flow of immigrants entering the country illegally from Mexico. Last
year, agents made more than
87,000 arrests there.
The
customs agency said in a statement that it takes seriously the welfare
of those detained in its facilities, which it says are maintained in
accordance with the law.
"These
facilities are designed to be short term in nature and to house
individuals until they can be processed, turned over to another agency
or repatriated," the statement
said.
The lawsuit paints a grim picture of men, women and children held for extended periods as they await transfer or are released.
Through
records requests, plaintiffs' lawyers determined that 80 percent of
72,000 people detained in sector detention facilities during the first
six months of 2013 were
held longer than a 12-hour maximum set out in agency guidelines.
The
lawsuit details extreme conditions where detainees are first stripped
of outer clothing and then placed into frigid cells packed with other
immigrants. Lights glare
day and night.
Basic
hygiene and sanitary items like soap are lacking, and there is no
access to showers. Beds consist of concrete benches or the floor, the
lawsuit says.
“From
the moment people are apprehended they are treated in a way that can
only be described as subhuman,” said Nora Preciado, a plaintiff’s
attorney with the National
Immigration Law Center.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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