An Honduran woman is suing the Obama administration over alleged mistreatment that she and her child suffered while held in a family detention center in Dilley, Texas.
(FOX)- The woman, Suny Rodriguez Alvarado, filed the lawsuit – on which her then-7-year-old son also is a plaintiff – in federal court in New Jersey. Alvarado, who is 43, was kept in detention for more than four months last year.
The suit is believed to be the first of its kind to seek damages for harm suffered in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention while seeking refugee status.
A release about the lawsuit reads, “Suny Rodriguez Alvarado and her 7-year-old son, Angelo, left their home in Honduras because of persistent threats of police violence, only to be subjected to prolonged detention, coercion and abuse by Department of Homeland Security officials.”
In an interview with Fox News Latino, Rodriguez said that her son remains traumatized from his time in detention.
The lawsuit alleges that border officials tried to coerce Rodriguez to sign a document agreeing to be returned to Honduras, in violation of U.S. law on how people who express a fear of persecution if they return to their homeland and request to apply for asylum are supposed to be treated.
It also alleges that a border agent denied Rodriguez food and told her that it was futile of her to have entered the United States, suggesting that she would face worse persecution than she had in Honduras.