What is the government doing and why are we challenging it?
Ms. E.V.G. is an asylum seeker who endured unsafe and deplorable conditions while detained at the Joe Corley Detention Center in Conroe, Texas, operated by the private prison company Geo Group. After Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to unlawfully deport Ms. E.V.G., CGRS and our partners at Casa Cornelia Law Center took on her case. We then learned of the severe harm she had suffered during the five months she spent at Corley, which included persistent and dangerous medical neglect, as well as a harrowing incident in which guards trapped Ms. E.V.G. and 11 other women in their cells during a fire. Corley staff also provided Ms. E.V.G. inadequate and unsanitary clothing, fed her spoiled and expired food that made her sick, and forced her to sleep on a mattress infected with bed bugs.
CGRS and Casa Cornelia filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, asking the government to release all records relating to Ms. E.V.G.’s detention and ICE’s repeated attempts to deport her, despite a court order prohibiting her removal. When ICE failed to respond to that request, we filed a lawsuit to force the agency to produce the records in question.
What’s the status of this case?
Within days of CGRS and Casa Cornelia filing the lawsuit on Ms. E.V.G.’s behalf, ICE began producing documents. ICE produced several hundreds of pages of records, but there was a noticeable dearth of medical records from Ms. E.V.G.’s stay at Corley and no records referencing the fire, despite local press reporting where ICE and Corley staff discussed the incident at the time.
On October 30, 2024, the case was dismissed pursuant to a settlement agreement reached by Ms. E.V.G., her attorneys, and ICE. As part of the agreement, ICE was required to produce a declaration detailing its attempts to locate the information requested on Ms. E.G.V.’s detention and the agency’s attempts to deport her.
The declaration suggests medical neglect, or at minimum woefully inadequate record keeping by Geo Corp and Corley staff, and a failure by ICE to enforce proper record keeping policies. Additionally, in its declaration ICE admits that it routinely attempts to remove immigrants who are not removable and does not always record those incidents, stating “It is possible that the [Ms. E.G.V.] was put on a plane and then taken off the plane without incident. If that was the case, it would not necessarily have been recorded into any type of evidence. Daily there are last minute subject’s [sic] taken off of aircraft due to not being removable.”
Who’s involved?
The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) and Casa Cornelia Law Center represent Ms. E.V.G.
How can you help?
Take the #WelcomeWithDignity pledge and join our movement to defend the rights of people seeking asylum. You can support CGRS’s vital work on cases like this one by making a donation.
Need more information?
Contact Brianna Krong, Communications and Advocacy Manager, at krongbrianna@uclawsf.edu.