Fifteen immigrants have filed a lawsuit over the medical care and conditions in U.S. detention facilities. The suit states immigrants were denied recommended medical treatment.
Detained Immigrants File Lawsuit
Sue Over Conditions, Medical Care
By AMY TAXIN Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities filed a lawsuit Monday decrying what they called shoddy medical care and a failure by authorities to provide accommodations for disabilities.
In the suit filed by disability and civil rights advocates in U.S. District Court, immigrants said they're placed in isolation as punishment and denied recommended medical treatment and surgery. Some said they've been denied wheelchairs and a deaf detainee who communicates in American Sign Language said he has not been provided an interpreter.
The problems harm disabled immigrants and threaten anyone in one of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's more than 50,000 detention beds who winds up getting sick or isolated from other detainees, said Monica Porter, staff attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, one of the organizations that filed the suit.
"ICE cannot simply contract with third parties to operate its detention centers and then wash its hands of the deplorable, unlawful conditions in those detention centers," said Tim Fox, co-executive director of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center.
ICE, which largely contracts with private companies and law enforcement agencies for detention space, declined to comment specifically about the lawsuit.
An agency official said comprehensive medical care is provided to all detainees including dental and 24-hour emergency care and studies have shown about 1 percent of detainees are held in segregated housing at a given time.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of 15 immigrants from countries including Sudan and Mexico and nonprofits seeks to represent immigrant detainees across the country. The suit cites problems at eight facilities including a privately-run center in Adelanto California, and Teller County Jail in Colorado.
Advocates said they want to see changes in medical treatment and policies for the immigrants, who are fighting deportation, and the release of immigrants under alternative programs.
The number of immigrants in detention has grown in recent years. There are currently an average 55,000 immigrants in detention each day, according to ICE.
One of the plaintiffs, Faour Abdullah Fraihat, has been detained in Adelanto for more than two years and lost vision in his left eye. While an off-site doctor recommended surgery in April, immigration authorities didn't provide it and he was told last month his vision couldn't be restored, according to the lawsuit.
Fraihat, 57, who has back and knee pain, said he was given a wheelchair but it was taken away after a month. For more than a year, he relied on officers to bring him food, the suit said.
He said he fears returning to Jordan because he was threatened after converting to Christianity.
Another detainee at the facility about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles said he was placed in segregation for a week after filing a grievance against an officer, the suit said.
Luis Manuel Delgadillo, a 29-year-old who has lived most of his life in the United States, was on medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but his treatment shifted after he was detained in May. Since then, his mental health has suffered, prompting him to miss two court dates, according to the lawsuit.
"Like any parents, my husband and I suffer with him, and we just want him to be safe," his mother, Patricia Delgadillo, said in a statement.
In addition to bringing our readers stories about education issues in America, we here at Hispanic Outlook feature news articles on topics both related to and outside of the field of education on our website and in our social media.
Hispanic Outlook is an education magazine in the US available both in print and digital form. Visit https://www.hispanicoutlook.com/education-magazine for information about our latest issue, including our new supplement Physician Outlook.
Hispanic Outlook’s Job Board allows applicants to search for jobs by category, by city and by state. Both Featured and Latest Job Positions are available at https://hispanicoutlookjobs.com/
And for employers, Hispanic Outlook’s Job Board offers a wide variety of posting options. Further information is available at https://hispanicoutlookjobs.com/employer-products/
Other articles from Hispanic Outlook:
Geriatric Surgery Verification Program
WASHINGTON (AP) — The 92-year-old had a painful tumor on his tongue, and major surgery was his best chance. Doctors called a timeout when he said he lived alone, in a rural farmhouse, and wanted to keep doing so. "It was ultimately not clear we could get him back there" after such a big operation, said Dr. Tom Robinson, chief of surgery at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System. The Denver hospital is trying something new: When their oldest patients need a major operation, what to do isn't decided just with the surgeon but with a team of other specialists, to make sure seniors fully understand their options — and how those choices could affect the remainder of their lives. It's part of a move to improve surgical care for older Americans, who increasingly are undergoing complex operations despite facing higher risks than younger patients…
Read full article here
Is There A Doctor…Anywhere?
Perhaps this has happened to you (and if it hasn't, it might happen soon). You need to see a Doctor, but you’re told you can’t see the Doctor for weeks or maybe even a month. Or maybe your trusted family Doctor has either moved away, died or retired, and an all-purpose medical group has moved into that office. More than likely you’ll have to get used to seeing non-Doctors including nurses and APNs for routine office visits. Unless the projected Physician shortage is reversed, that’s the future of medical care. If that doesn’t sound wrong, how would you feel if you were on trial in a case where your life, liberty or livelihood was on the line, and the only person you could find to argue on your behalf was a paralegal, not a licensed attorney? Unlike an attorney, every time you see a Doctor there’s a chance that his or her skills will discover and treat something that would otherwise severely impact...
Read full article here
Graduating More Latino Doctors
In the 2003 landmark Supreme Court decision on affirmative action at the University of Michigan Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, “We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” Since that 2003 decision, the United States has made little progress in the areas Justice O’Connor had hoped, says Jorge Girotti, director, The Hispanic Center of Excellence at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. In fact, it appears the country is moving backwards, he added. Statistics suggest that most U.S. medical schools can just attract, enroll or graduate significant numbers of Latinos. In the 2018-19 school year Latinos comprised only 6.4% of students enrolled in U.S. medical schools. Some schools, however, are the exception. The University of Illinois College of Medicine, for...
Read full article here
