On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class-action on behalf of three women who were allegedly sexually assaulted while in custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas. The lawsuit filed is against three ICE officials: Williamson County; Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the private corporation in charge of managing the Hutto facility; the former facility administrator for Hutto; and Donald Dunn, a guard who pled guilty in state court to three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint based on his assaults of five women.
The alleged attacks happened while the women were being transported under the watch of a single ICE Guard from the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor, TX to a nearby bus station in Austin, TX.
According to the ACLU the lawsuit alleges that ICE, along with Williamson County and the Corrections Corporation of America were “deliberately indifferent and willfully blind to the fact that (the guard named as a defendant) and other employees regularly violated the rule that detainees are not be transported without another escort officer of the same gender present.”
In response, ICE assured that they have a zero tolerance policy towards any actions involving sexual assault/harassment, and also assured that their workforce is composed of employees who have all been subject to a background check. However, the CCA is yet to respond to the announcement of the lawsuit filed by the ACLU.