Sexual Abuse Claims Emerge From Hutto Immigrant Detention Site

AUSTIN, TX — An undocumented woman from El Salvador being held at a Williamson County detention center says she was sexually abused by a guard at the facility.

Officials at Austin-based Grassroots Leadership, an immigrant advocate group, said Thursday they recently received a letter from inside the T. Don Hutto immigrant detention center in Taylor, Texas, from Laura Monterrosa, a 23-year-old immigrant being held at the facility by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials given her undocumented status.

In the correspondence, the detained immigrant describes a pattern of sexual assault at the facility that she has endured since June, naming two different guards as perpetrators. The detained woman referenced an alleged assault by a female guard.

"She harassed me, telling me threatening words and forcing me to have unwanted relations with he," writes Monterrosa in her letter. "She looked for or took advantage of every moment she could to touch my breasts or my legs, she knew where and when she did it. I don't remember dates because there are many. She worked in the recreation area and what she did with me what she did with other residents.”

Monterrosa initially broke her silence to a member of Grassroots Leadership’s visitation program, officials at the nonprofit told Patch. She claimed another woman in detention was accused of lying and moved to a different location after making a sexual assault complaint as part of an alleged pattern of abuse and retaliation inside the detention center, Grassroots officials said.

Patch reached out to officials at the Hutto facility for comment. In response, a spokeswoman for ICE — which contracts Corrections Corporation of America to run the facility — emailed a prepared statement.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not comment on pending investigations," Nina Pruneda wrote. "However, the agency is committed to ensuring all individuals in our custody are treated in a safe, secure and humane manner. Accusations of alleged unlawful conduct are investigated thoroughly and appropriate action is taken to ensure the safety and security of those involved and the others in ICE custody.”

In her email, Pruneda outlined what she said were safeguards purportedly implemented at the facility to prevent sexual abuse:

• "ICE has implemented strong protections against sexual assault in accordance with standards set forth in the DHS Prison Rape Elimination Act regulation."
• "It is ICE policy to provide effective safeguards against sexual abuse and assault of all individuals in ICE custody, including with respect to screening, staff training, detainee education, response and intervention, medical and mental health care, reporting, investigation, and monitoring and oversight."
• "Under our Family Residential Standards, ICE facilities are inspected annually with safeguards against sexual assault as a primary concern."

Yet this isn't the first time allegations of sexual abuse emanating from the all-women detention facility have emerged from the facility. Grassroots Leadership officials point to a number of past sexual assault accusations made from detaineees there before. One such case led to formal charges being charged against a former guard — three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint — in incidents during which he allegedly groped women in his custody while transporting them to the airport or bus station.

All told, of some 33,000 complaints of physical and sexual abuse filed with the DHS Office of Inspector General, less than 1 percent were actually investigated at all ICE-run facilities nationwide from 2010-2016, Grassroots officials said.

Bethany Carson, immigration researcher and organizer at Grassroots Leadership, said the same lethargic response has resulted following Monterrosa's accusations. Carson added that similar accounts from other women have been met with skepticism or victim-blaming from the facility's officials, as relayed from the detainees to Grassroots Leadership. Moreover, ICE officials have not contacted Grassroots Leadership officials to apprise them of any investigation into Monterrosa's claims, Carson said.

"We've not been contacted by them at all," she told Patch in a telephone interview. "They're being extremely victim-blaming and retaliatory in the way they've responded to this asking why she didn't come forward sooner or accusing her of having someone write the letter for her. This is extremely ugly, and this is why victims of sexual assault don't come forward."

Grassroots Leadership labeled Monterrosa as "courageous" for having spoken out and allowing use of her name, even as other detainees making similar complaints are afraid to do so. "We're really pushing for the county to conduct a just and transparent investigation and treat this like any other crime," she said.

Patch telephoned the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, but an email and voice message weren't immediately returned. An automated response following and email to Sheriff Robert Chody spokeswoman Lisa Gutierrez indicated she'd be out of the office until Nov. 13.

But Carson suggested she doesn't hold out too much hope Williamson County officials would conduct a robust investigation either. Adding to that suspicion is the vested interest Williamson County officials have in keeping the detention facility humming. A previous request for information by this reporter found the county has reaped millions of dollars over the years from a lucrative agreement with the facility's operator, Corrections Corporation of America, for essentially allowing the detention site — formerly a medium-security state prison — to conduct its business within their borders.

According to a previous email from Williamson County spokesperson Connie Watson, payments from ICE to CCA for May 2006 through September 2015 totaled $225 million. Additionally, payments made from ICE to the county from May 2006 to September 2015 amounted $1.7 million in administrative fees, which are then deposited into the county’s general fund, she wrote.

At the time of the request for information, the latest renewal of the pact at the time, executed in December 2014, showed the county was getting $8,000 per month from CCA — up from $6,000 a month previously — in addition to $1 per day per detainee. The exact number of detainees at Hutto is somewhat secretive given that ICE falls under the Department of Homeland Security — which states it withholds such information for national security — but it has been estimated at that time to be at least 400.

Patch will seek updated figures from Williamson County toward updating details of the CCA-Williamson County contract.

Critics of the facility — a guarded, fenced-in center used to detain non-U.S. citizens pending the outcome of their immigration hearings — are legion. Despite ICE's assertions to the contrary, critics view the site as tantamount to a prison — notwithstanding its "residential center" label.

One such critic is former Georgetown Mayor MaryEllen Kersch, who took county commissioners to task two years ago for allowing the facility to operate in their jurisdiction and profiting from its operation.

"Are you content to continue your complicity in this endeavor even now?" she asked commissioners during the portion of their meeting allowing citizens to air concerns. Kersch's comments came amid a hunger strike by women held at the facility in protest of conditions there. "You have continued to vote to renew that abhorrent contract that is beyond reprehensible.”

Carson, too, finds the whole arrangement reprehensible. But for now, she'd be content knowing the county will at least take Monterrosa's accusations seriously and launch a full investigation.

“Speaking out about sexual abuse perpetrated by a guard while still detained takes incredible courage,” Carson said of Monterrosa's outcry. “As ICE has proven incapable of taking reports of abuse seriously, the least the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office can do is immediately launch a just and transparent investigation into reports of sexual abuse by guards at Hutto. This includes talking with any witnesses named by Ms. Monterrosa and ensuring that her attorney is always present during any questioning.”

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