Business Immigration Insights

The New York Times features Suzan Kern in an interview with María, a woman who was sexually assaulted by a Corrections Corporation of America guard while under the custody of ICE, following her release on bond from the Hutto detention center in Texas. CCA violated the terms of its contract with ICE, which mandated that female detainees be transferred with at least one female guard. Instead, CCA’s male guard, Donald Dunn, who assaulted María, transported women alone 77 times in less than a year. “When he let her out of the van at the Austin airport, she ran,” Suzan, María’s pro bono immigration attorney, says in the video. “The guard there at the airport asked her what was wrong and she immediately told him what had happened.” María courageously explains, “I think this happened not only to me but to several people.” Eight women came forward to testify against Dunn, who was convicted and served prison time. Suzan, who also represents another of Dunn’s victims pro bono, believes there were even more, “because these were the women who could be tracked down and who were willing to speak."

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