Immigration Lawsuit Targets Texas Private Prison

A civil rights group has filed an immigration lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a private prison company. The suit was filed on behalf of three women who participated in a hunger strike to protest the prison’s policies. The suit alleges that ICE and GEO Group placed the women and their children in isolation to punish them for their protests. The immigration lawsuit names ICE Director Sarah Saldaña and the staff at the Karnes County Residential Center in South Texas as defendants.

Violence Spurs Immigration Lawsuit Protests

The three women, whose names and countries of origin were not disclosed, were reportedly part of a group of nearly 70,000 families escaping civil conflict in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These families, along with thousands of unaccompanied minors, have flooded the U.S. southern border in recent years, creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Many of these immigrants have been placed in detention centers, such as the Karnes County center named in the immigration lawsuit, until their cases can be heard.

Hunger Strike Prompts Immigration Lawsuit

The immigration lawsuit alleges that many of these women and children have been held in the Karnes County detention center for up to six months. In early April, 78 mothers signed a letter stating that they would go on a hunger strike until they were released. The immigration lawsuit states that guards punished the hunger strikers by placing them and their children in isolation cells. The suit also states that the guards threatened to have them deported or separate them from their children if their protests continued.

Immigration Lawsuit Cites “Retaliating” Actions

The University of Texas Civil Rights Clinic filed the immigration lawsuit on behalf of the three women. Ranjana Natarajan, an attorney at the clinic, told reporters that the immigration lawsuit seeks to protect the women’s First Amendment rights to protest. According to Natarajan, officials with ICE and GEO “were using the most powerful threats to silence them” and that they reacted to the protests with “nothing short of excessive bullying.”

ICE, GEO Dispute Immigration Lawsuit

Officials with ICE and GEO dispute many of the claims made in the immigration lawsuit. An ICE official released a statement saying that the department “has every confidence” in the staff at the Karnes County detention center. A statement from GEO argued that the hunger strikes named in the immigration lawsuit did not occur. The statement also said that the detention center “provides high quality care in a safe, clean, and family-friendly environment.”

Source: Huffington Post

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