Update on Bella - Democratic Underground

lala_rawraw

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Oct-01-06 10:26 AM
Original message

Update on Bella

Just wanted to let you guys know, she was moved to Krome last night. It is 130 miles away from her attorney and family. She still does not have medication. Please call Senator Nelson's office and every member of the House from Florida.

Here is more on Krome:

ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AT KROME DETENTION CENTER
The INS Office of Internal Audit and the Justice Department Inspector General are investigating allegations that numerous officers at the Krome Detention Center in Miami had sexual contacts with the detainees. While the government has not released the names of those involved, or even how many people are being investigated, at least two officers at the facility have been temporarily reassigned.

Among the most serious allegations are two women’s claims to have become pregnant while in detention, one by another detainee, and the other by a guard, and claims that a transsexual detainee was sexually assaulted by a guard. The transsexual, a man in the process of changing his gender, was originally placed in a men’s dorm. Because she was involved in sexual incidents (it was unclear if they were forced or consensual) she was moved to a room by herself. According to the detainee, the male officer assigned to watch her raped her.

These are the most serious charges of sexual abuse at the facility since 1990 when a group of Haitian women claimed they were being forced into sex by male guards. The FBI investigated the charges, but never released any public statement on the results of the investigation.
If the investigation shows the charges are well-founded, it could lead to internal discipline, or even criminal charges.
http://www.visalaw.com/00jun1/13jun100.html

---

Refugee Women and Immigrants Subjected to Abuse by Guards

New York, NY- October 5, 2000—In a report released today, the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children documents widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse of detainees held at the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Krome Service Processing Center in Miami.

"Detainees told us of sexual abuse ranging from rape to molestation and harassment," says Wendy Young, Director of Government Relations for the Women’s Commission and author of the report Behind Closed Doors: Abuse of Refugee Women at the Krome Detention Center. "At least 15 male INS officers were involved. Women described an atmosphere of fear and intimidation."

The Women’s Commission visited the Krome detention center in March 2000 and again in September, following reports of widespread misconduct. The Women’s Commission has been at investigating conditions of detention for women asylum seekers in the United States since 1995.

Women at Krome reported that often officers used the women’s lack of immigration status as an inducement to participate in sexual activities. They reported that officers would make false promises that they could release a woman from detention if she participated in sexual acts. In other cases, detainees said that deportation officers threatened them with deportation or transfer to a county prison if they resisted a guard’s sexual advances or if they complained.

Complaints about severe overcrowding, prolonged detention, impediments to legal representation, verbal and physical abuse, lack of proper medical care and other abuses at Krome are not new and the facility has been the subject of federal investigations of alleged abuses every few years going back to 1986. Allegations of sexual misconduct are now being investigated by three agencies of the Department of Justice: the Office of the Inspector General, the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office. Two officers from Krome have been convicted by a grand jury.

"The INS must immediately regain control of Krome," says Young. "Strong measures must be taken to ensure that staff who have participated in illegal and unethical behavior are either criminally prosecuted or subject to appropriate disciplinary action, including dismissal. Accountability must be built in at every level of the INS from frontline staff working directly with detainees all the way up to the INS in Washington."

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children is the only organization in the United States dedicated solely to speaking out on behalf of refugee women and children. It provides expertise in the areas of reproductive health, protection and participation, asylum issues and refugee children and adolescents, Currently there are almost 50 million refugees and internally displaced civilians worldwide--80 percent of whom are women and children.
http://www.womenscommission.org/archive/00/press_releases/1005.shtml

---

Human rights and humanitarian groups are calling for a full-scale investigation regarding the Nov. 3 death in a South Florida detention facility of an 81-year-old Haitian pastor four days after he had flown to the United States and asked for political asylum.

The Rev. Joseph Dantica, who had worked in Bel-Air, one of Port-au-Prince's poorest districts, for some 50 years, flew to Miami with his son, Maxo, on Oct. 29, after hiding for several days from members of an armed gang who had threatened to kill him.

He arrived at Miami International Airport with a multiple-entry visa stamped in his passport. Dantica was asked how long he intended to remain in the United States. Unable to give a definite date, Dantica and his son said they feared they would be killed if they returned and asked for political asylum.

At that point, both Dantica and his son were arrested. Joseph Dantica died five days later.

Datica's niece is the award-winning Haitian-American novelist and author, Edwidge Danticat. In a blistering column in the New York Times, she wrote: "Like the claims from Cubans, Haitian asylum claims should be considered fairly and humanely so that calamities like my uncle's flight and eventual death in the custody of the Homeland Security Department are never repeated."
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/01/1536230