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Melvin Murillo Hernandez has had allergic reactions so severe that he had to be hospitalized four times. Martín Muñoz did not have access to insulin for ten long days. Faour Abdallah Fraihat, in a wheelchair, was unable to go to the cafeteria.
These men are three of 15 plaintiffs and two non-profit groups alleging "horrific conditions" and "torture" in detention centers for immigrants and immigrants (Ice) in the context of a new class action brought on behalf of 55,000 inmates. Complainants, who live in conditions ranging from cerebral palsy and bipolar disorder to blindness and schizophrenia, accuse the US government of denying jailed migrants food, medicine, surgery and the most basic amenities to disabled.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Monday describes individual experiences in eight different facilities, but immigration lawyers say abuse is representative of systemic problems that affect tens of thousands of people. The complaint comes as the Trump administration steps up its efforts to prevent asylum seekers and migrants from certain countries from coming to the United States, holds back undocumented migrants for longer and expands the use private prison contracts in the immigration system.
The attorneys said the conditions in some US detention centers were so brutal that migrants who fled torture and violence "are forced to abandon viable demands for reparations for immigration and immigration." Accept expulsion from desperate desire to escape the torture they endure in detention on US soil ".
"They can not stand it anymore," said Elissa Johnson, a lawyer at the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the many non-profit organizations involved in the Los Angeles lawsuit. "This is a choice no one should have to make," she told reporters.
Near death experiences
The lawsuit alleges that the detention center has not provided the most basic care or essential support to prisoners with chronic illnesses or living with a disability.
Melvin Murillo Hernandez, an 18-year-old immigrant, was detained at a detention center in Ice, Louisiana. He suffers from multiple life-threatening food allergies, but he has not followed any particular diet for more than six months in custody of Ice, according to the lawsuit. He had seven severe allergic reactions and was hospitalized repeatedly because of anaphylactic shock.
He was finally placed in "medical isolation" because of his allergies, leaving him alone in a cell 24 hours a day, the trial says. The staff now brings her meals, consisting mainly of eggs and rice. But segregation is raising new health concerns, as he had already relied on other inmates to draw staff's attention during the anaphylactic shocks that made him lose consciousness.
José Baca Hernández, a blind detainee since 2015 and residing in the Adelanto detention center in California, has to call on his cellmates, lawyers and guards to read all the documents relating to his medical care and his case. of immigration, indicates the lawsuit. .
When Faour Abdallah Fraihat arrived in Adelanto in December 2016, he reported a disc problem in his back and knee and received a temporary wheelchair. But the installation won after a month, according to the complaint. Fraihat then made numerous requests for wheelchairs, sometimes every day, but did not receive them until February 2019, adds the suit, adding that without a wheelchair, Fraihat could not go to court or to the cafeteria and had to rely on the officers to bring him food.
Fraihat, 57, also suffered from a deterioration of sight in custody, but Ice refused to provide surgery recommended by a doctor. He finally lost the vision of his left eye.
Sick and lonely
Inmates mentally ill centers languishing in isolation, according to the trial.
Hamida Ali, a 28-year-old Sudanese refugee who has spent most of her life in the United States, has schizophrenia and committed suicide while she was in Ice custody. Colorado ,. But almost immediately after his detention, Ice isolated him in a dormitory alone for about nine months, causing "episodes of extreme psychological distress."
Sergio Salazar Artaga, a 25-year-old inmate from Florence, Arizona, who was diagnosed with anxiety disorder and psychosis while in custody, was cautioned against suicide for self-destructive behavior and hallucinations. unable to see a mental health provider for an entire month of detention.
Jose Segovia Benitez, a 38-year-old veteran of the US Marine Corps who has completed two tours of duty, suffers from depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. But Adelanto has subjected him to solitary confinement, which has exacerbated his mental health problems, according to the complaint.
Drugs refused
And detention center staff made life-threatening medical mistakes, according to the complaint.
Martín Muñoz, who has lived in the United States for more than 40 years and suffers from diabetes, received an overdose of insulin when Adelanto's staff administered more than three times its usual dose, the suit says. He was reportedly taken into medical observation when "the staff understood the mistake", but he was never evaluated by a doctor.
On at least one occasion, Muñoz was found without medication for hypertension for two weeks, when Adelanto was exhausted. Recently, he has not received insulin for 10 days. He would also have spent a week without his cholesterol medications.
Systemic issues
Al Otro Lado, a legal services organization and one of the two nonprofit groups serving as plaintiffs in this case, says in his lawsuit that he has struggled to support plaintiffs. asylum and refugees as its staff has to spend considerable resources on treatment. needs of its existing customers.
The organization claims that two of its clients lost their pregnancies in detention following a failed medical intervention and had to spend a lot of time campaigning for HIV-positive clients to get basic care and housing. sure where they will not be exposed to infectious diseases.
A spokesman for Ice declined to comment on the allegations, but said there were "prompt and appropriate responses to emerging medical claims" and that "full medical care is provided to all those in custody" .
A spokesman for Geo Group, the private penitentiary company that operates Adelanto and other ice cream centers, said the allegations were "unfounded" and its medical programs "provide 24/7 access to 7, to "free care" and are "supported by professional teams including full-time physicians".
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