Immigrant accuses ICE contractor of rape at Houston facility

An immigrant who was detained at a federal detention facility in Houston said she was raped by guards working for the private company contracted to operate the site, according to a lawsuit filed by her attorneys.

The lawsuit accuses CoreCivic Inc., its transportation subsidiary TransCor America and the federal government of failing to properly protect, screen and monitor inmates and employees at the Houston Processing Center.

The lawsuit said that the woman, named as Jane Doe in the document, was sexually assaulted and impregnated on the eve of her scheduled deportation, on June 1, 2018.

According to the lawsuit, CoreCivic

guards moved the woman to an isolated cell in the facility occupied by two other female immigrants that evening. Near midnight, the three women were hit in the face until they stopped resisting and raped. A few hours later, the guards ordered the women to change their clothes, removed them from their cell and deported them to Mexico.

The court document said that the woman gave birth in early 2019 to a child conceived in the assault.

“Three men wearing masks abused them sexually and physically,” said Jose Sanchez, one of the leading attorneys in the case. He added that the women were picked up around 5 a.m. from the detention center and transported to the border at Laredo.

CoreCivic said they have not

been notified about the lawsuit, and that the company complies with laws to protect detainees from rape.

“We have not been served with this complaint and, as a matter of policy, we do not comment on

pending litigation,” said Amanda Gilchrist, CoreCivic’s director of Public Affairs.

“More broadly,” added Gilchrist in an email, “we are committed to the safety and dignity of every detainee entrusted to our care. We have a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment.”

Lawyers for the immigrant indicated

that numerous cases of rape have occurred in the detention centers ran by CoreCivic.

CoreCivic received 10 rape complaints from detainees at the Houston facility in 2019, according to the latest company’s report required by law. Of those, the attacker was identified as an employee in four incidents and other detainees were identified in the remaining

six. Nationwide, complaints reached 145 and 297, respectively. They do not include cases of alleged harassment, which are reported separately.

“Immigration may be a controversial issue, but rape on the taxpayer dime should not be,” said Michelle Simpson Tuegel, a colead counsel in the case.

With more than 60 facilities in its portfolio, CoreCivic is one of the top largest private administrators of correctional and detention centers in the country, with $1.98 billion in revenues last year.

The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.