Detention
Sofia Casini, an immigration programs coordinator for Grassroots, said the group has not been able to find out any more information about the Cuban woman.
Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement spokes- woman Adelina Pruneda said Tuesday she could not confirm whether the inci- dent occurred without the woman’s name or birth date.
The remarks by Grassroots Leadership members were made in the public comment portion of the meeting and were not on the agenda, so the commissioners could not comment or take action on the matter. But after the meeting, Commissioner Terri Cook and County Judge Dan Gattis said they did not want to end the contract any earlier than planned. Cook said if issues were going on within the detention center peo- ple could report them to the sheriff ’s office, which still has a responsibility to check on the facility.
The detention center in Taylor houses detained immi- grant women. In May, a Salvadoran woman seeking asy- lum was released from the detention center after she said she had been sexually assaulted by a female guard. Other, similar allegations also have been made.
CoreCivic, which owns and operates the center, pays Williamson County about $8,000 per month for the costs associated with employing a county representative to serve as a liaison between the county, ICE and CoreCivic.
Casini also told commis- sioners at their meeting Tuesday that women taken from the detention center to another in Pearsall on July 18 were hurt in a serious car crash in San Marcos and did not receive medical care.
But Pruneda said the women were evaluated by paramedics at the scene and declined further medical attention. She said eight female detainees were being transferred by van to the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall on July 18 when there was a minor col- lision between the van and a pickup while the van was leaving a gas station parking lot.
The women were evaluated again by trained medical personnel when they reached the detention center in Pearsall, and there were no reported injuries or medical complications, Pruneda said.
“Both vehicles sustained minor damage and remained operable,” Pruneda said.
A San Marcos Police Department report on the wreck said the van received a “disabling” amount of dam- age.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, wrote a letter Aug. 8 to the acting director of ICE questioning what happened in the crash. The letter said that an Aug. 8 article in the Texas Observer said the detainees described the crash as strong and reported having headaches and nausea, and that “only one woman saw a doctor for a leg injury, despite your staff saying that all the detainees were medically evaluated.”
Grassroots Leadership officials said in a news release Monday that federal immigration officials had issued a request for information from contractors in what appeared to be an attempt to keep the detention center in Taylor operational after its contract with Williamson County ends.
The ICE request seeks contractors capable of running a 500-bed detention facility for women within 50 miles of Austin and says it plans on making the facility operational by Jan. 1, 2019, the release says.
The request does not name the T. Don Hutto center.
Williamson County commissioners have said that just because they are ending their contract does not mean the facility will close.