Immigrant Youth Sue San Antonio Facility Over Abuse
PDF Version Available for Download
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2008
Contact: Susan Watson, Attorney
615.750.1203
swatson@trla.org
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
512.374.2764
cmartinez@trla.org
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Eight immigrant youth have filed a lawsuit against Cornell Companies, numerous employees of the Abraxas Hector Garza Treatment Center, federal officials, and San Antonio police over numerous violations to their constitutional rights while held at the treatment facility.
Represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the leading provider of legal aid in Texas, the youth claim that they were subjected to repeated abuse, even after reporting the incidents to supervisors. The beatings were so severe that some victims required hospital treatment for their injuries. The lawsuit also alleges that facility staff and federal officials prevented the youth from meeting with their attorneys on several occasions.
According to TRLA attorney Susan Watson, who is among several attorneys to face difficulties in meeting with the men, “These young men were being routinely abused and their cries for help were ignored by the very people who are supposed to care for them. Not only did facility and federal officials engage in or condone the beatings, they tried to prevent the outside world from hearing the boys’ cries for help.”
Cornell Companies, whose headquarters are in Houston, operates more than 80 corrections facilities across the United States. The Office of Refugee Resettlement contracts with companies like Cornell to care for immigrant children while their immigration cases are pending. In the past, Cornell Companies has faced allegations of abuse, drug use, and inhumane living conditions.
“The courage that these young men have shown in standing up for their rights is remarkable,” added Watson. “The severe treatment at the hands of those responsible for protecting them is simply unacceptable. These young men deserve to see how our judicial system can defend their rights, even when the federal government does not.”
Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.
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Bullshit. Where’s the proof? I have visited facilities like this one and they bend over backwards to make sure these kids are taken care of. With Presidents, Congressmen and Governors being exposed for innapropriate actions, I find it hard to believe that a facility under this close of scrutiny would beat kids and try to cover it up, and that federal officials would stand by and let it happen, much less participate. Sounds like these liberal attorneys are tired of defending illegals for free and are looking for a quick handout……bloodsuckers.
Your ignorance shows.
1. The evidence is produced to the court after suit is filed. In time, this may be released to the public, but hardly ever while suit is pending.
2. If you do not believe kids would be abused and then the abuse covered up, look into many, many recent facilities in the area (the recent TYC scandal and the Nixon immigration facility come to mind) where this is exactly what happened…and these only go back over the last couple of years.
3. If you bothered to read the suit, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid “does not seek any award of attorneys fees.”
They shouldn’t be in the United State in the first place!!! I really don’t believe them. I think they are just trying to get money.They are using are tax money which they shouldn’t have in the first place.Send them back where they belong.