Case is an example of the nation's “broken” immigration policies and the potential danger of “show me your papers” laws, like the one passed in Arizona that allows local law enforcement agents to detain illegal immigrants.
From [HERE] Cass County has settled a lawsuit out of court filed by a jailed immigrant who claimed that jail officials ignored her allegation that she was raped by a fellow detainee, and instead offered her a Tylenol.
The lawsuit was filed in January by the ACLU on behalf of Claudia Leiva-Deras, 27, a legal immigrant from Honduras who speaks only Spanish. She was detained in 2009 after reporting that she was a victim of domestic assault at her home. At the time, she was an illegal immigrant, but later was granted legal, permanent resident status under a clause that allows that for victims of domestic violence.
The lawsuit claimed that Cass County officials failed to respond to her reports of almost daily beatings during four months of detention, ignored the sexual assault allegation and her requests for a doctor, and instead only offered a Tylenol. Terms of the settlement were not released, and Cass County has stated that officials were not deliberately indifferent to the woman's allegations.
The victim, a mother of three, was eventually transferred to another detention facility where she received medical attention and counseling for post-traumatic stress.
ACLU Legal Director Amy Miller said the woman should not have been locked up in the first place, adding that her case was an example of the nation's “broken” immigration policies and the potential danger of “show me your papers” laws, like the one passed in Arizona that allows local law enforcement agents to detain illegal immigrants.
“There is a very good reason why state criminal law enforcement and federal civil immigration law enforcement are kept separate,” Miller said in a statement.
The lawsuit, settled in May, named Cass County Jail Administrator Jeff Lickei and County Sheriff Bill Brueggemann as defendants, along with the county.
The county and the ACLU issued a joint statement stating that Cass County admitted no violations of civil rights but wished to settle the lawsuit to save the cost and time of litigation.