Torture at the Border

7/11/2014 - Chaos at our border reveals the CBP [Customs & Border Protection] is torturing the immigrants with cold cell torture in nine of their South Texas jails

The following are from legal documents filed by the immigrant's lawyers:¹

Specifically, detainees consistently reported that, upon their arrest, they were told by CBP agents that they were being taken to what the CBP agents referred to as the hieleras, which is Spanish for icebox or freezer. The hieleras were extremely cold concrete holding rooms cells inside a CBP holding station. Detainees stated that the temperature inside the concrete cells was kept so cold that the detainees' lips chapped and split, their fingers and toes turned blue, and their faces chapped and throbbed with pain. The majority of detainees replied being kept in cells with no beds, no chairs, and a single toilet sitting in plain view in the corner of the cell. Lights remained on twenty-four hours a day. Detainees, including women and children, reported sleeping, what little they could on the frigid concrete floor, frequently huddled together for warmth.

The total number of those tortured, including women and children, is in the 1,000 to 3,000 range, according to documents.

Welcome to America.

Here is a 3-page extract from the lawsuit¹ docs/Extract.pdf that details the conditions, or here is a PDF of their federal complaint including exhibits 1:14-cv-20945² docs/1-main.pdf, that details the use of the cold cells in the following nine Texas border detention jail stations: Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Falfurrias, Fort Brown, Harlington, Kingsville, McAllen, Rio Grande City, and Weslaco.

Here is the link to their legal website: http://www.aijustice.org/litigation.