AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The related video was published on April 8, 2020.
Multiple civil rights groups on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the federal government asking for the release of immigrants currently being held at three Texas detention centers.
Together, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the Texas Civil Rights Project, Carlos Moctezuma Garcia of Garcia & Garcia Attorneys at Law, P.L.L.C., and attorney Javier Maldonado, filed a writ of habeas corpus petition and complaint on behalf of three people currently detained at immigration facilities in South Texas.
According to the Texas Civil Rights Project, each plaintiff is suffering from health issues that make them "especially vulnerable to the ravages of COVID-19."
"Our client and other detainees with serious health conditions should not have to risk their lives to seek immigration relief," stated Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation and counsel in the case. "Detention centers cannot constitutionally expose the people in their care to grave risk of illness and death."
The complainants say the issue at hand involves the current conditions inside these detention centers. Immigrants there say preventative measures have been lax, they've received little to no medical care for their existing conditions, they are being housed in crowded dormitories, and they are forced to interact with guards who do not wear face masks or gloves.
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“It’s impossible to socially distance in these ICE facilities," said Efrén C. Olivares, legal director of the racial and economic justice program at Texas Civil Rights Project. "So, by holding our clients at their discretion, ICE is asking for an outbreak that will endanger the lives of the entire community, in areas that are already starting out with fewer healthcare resources.”
The plaintiffs include:
- A 62-year-old asylum and adjustment applicant from Mexico with Type 1 diabetes and hypertension who requires insulin and other medications. He is being held at Webb County Detention Center in Laredo.
- A 78-year-old green card holder originally from Mexico with hypertension who is being held at Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Los Fresnos, Texas.
- A 28-year-old asylum applicant from Cuba who suffers from severe asthma. He is being held at the Rio Grande Detention Center in Laredo.
"My client is scared. He asks me who would take care of his family and his disabled children if he dies as a result of the coronavirus," said Carlos Moctezuma Garcia of Garcia & Garcia Attorneys at Law. "This isn't something that a 40-year lawful permanent resident should wonder."
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The men's attorneys argue that federal officials violate their constitutional rights by failing to ensure that these detention centers abide by guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the pandemic. The suit names officials at U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as defendants, as well as wardens and officers of Webb County Detention Center, and the Rio Grande Detention Center, both in Laredo, and the Port Isabel Detention Center, in Los Fresnos.
According to ICE data, there are as many as 72 people currently in custody who have tested positive for the virus, and 19 detention facility staffers have also been diagnosed.
As of Wednesday evening, 375 people in Texas have died from coronavirus out of 15,904 positive cases confirmed.
The complaint can be read in full here.
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