Salvadoran asylum-seeker says abuses still go on at detention center

More than a week after being released from a detention center where she said she was sexually assaulted by a guard, a Salvadoran woman seeking asylum called on officials not to turn a blind eye to the abuse she says immigrant women face at the center.

“I know that at this time, the women in the detention center are looking at me,” Laura Monterrosa said Monday in Spanish at a news conference, surrounded by local organizers who have been campaigning for her release since last year. “Don’t let anyone violate your human rights . ... It doesn’t matter if you are not of this country or if you are an immigrant, your rights will always be your rights, and they must be respected.”

In November, Monterro sa reported to the Williamson County sheriff ’s office that she had been assaulted by a guard at the T. Don Hutto Center in Taylor.

Community advocates, along with local and state representatives, demanded that immigration officials release Monterrosa and have asked that the center be investigated for its handling of sexual assault cases.

Monterrosa said the first thing she did after being released March 16 was “eat well and sleep well.” It was something she hadn’t been able to do since her detainment, she added.

She said that when she was told she would be released, she wanted to “scream out loud and run everywhere.”

Although she did not provide details about the abuse she said she went through for four to five months because the case is ongoing, Monterrosa said she would continue to advocate for the release of the women still at the center, where she had been detained since June.

She said there are “more than 500 women suffering” who are still detained at T. Don Hutto and who lack adequate nutrition or medical care.

“They are forced to take 15 to