USA Today/Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Detainees want 2017 sex abuse allegation at Texas immigration center investigated
AUSTIN – Two women are demanding investigations into their allegations of sexual abuse at an immigration detention center be reopened and that the facility be audited for compliance with federal law.
The women, whose cases are being handled by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said they were sexually abused beginning more than a year ago by staff members at the women's only T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, a rural community northeast of Austin.
After the complaints were lodged, local law enforcement and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found the claim unsubstantiated. However, U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and more members of Congress have asked for an audit of the facility.
"It is unconscionable that those fleeing abuse abroad may be subject to abuse while in government custody," Doggett said Monday, adding "more audit work remains to ensure compliance with the law."
One of the woman who complained, asylum seeker Laura Monterrosa-Flores from El Salvador, has gone public with her allegations. The other woman has not so her identity is not being published.
According to a letter sent Monday by MALDEF to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other federal authorities the women said they were abused by female staff members and that federal authorities failed to protect the people in custody at the 500-bed facility.
"DHS failed to take action that could have prevented the sexual abuse of MALDEF's clients and continues to leave other detainees vulnerable at the Hutto detention center by refusing to provide proper oversight and supervision of detention center staff," the letter said.
The demands from the detainees come amid heightened public awareness of conditions at immigration detention centers as the Trump administration pursues its "zero-tolerance" policy toward people who enter the United States without legal permission.
Monterrosa-Flores was released from the center in March but has not publicized her whereabouts. She reported being subjected to physical and emotional abuse.
Abuse allegations have surfaced in the past against staff members at the Hutto center.
In 2012, a federal judge in Austin sentenced Donald Dunn, a former residential supervisor when the facility was called the T. Don Hutto Correction Center, to a year in prison after he was accused of groping women while pretending to do searches.
John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at John.Moritz@caller.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.
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