LOS ANGELES : Class-Action Suit Assails INS Handling of Detainees
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles holds prisoners in crowded and unhealthy conditions and provides inferior medical care, insufficient food, and inadequate access to attorneys and legal materials, according to a federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
The action, seeking a court order enjoining the INS from housing people in substandard conditions, was brought on behalf of hundreds of INS detainees and two nonprofit social service agencies, the Central American Refugee Center and El Rescate.
In one recent incident, a 10-year-old girl in INS custody was forced to spend the night on the floor in the same room with unrelated adult men, said Niels Frenzen, an attorney with Public Counsel, a nonprofit legal service that is assisting the plaintiffs.
Rico Cabrera, an INS spokesman, said he had not seen the suit and could not comment on its contents.
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