This Latino spent 14 months in isolation in an ICE cell. He says he’s American and now he’s asking to pay for that nightmare

For 14 months, Carlos Murillo Vega was confined to a cell in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in California, Where he was subjected to violations that harmed his physical and mental health.

Murillo, 40, became the first person on Thursday to use a state law that allows private operators of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions to be sued for failing to meet appropriate standards of care for detainees.

Murillo was born in Mexico and raised in Holtville, a California town near the Mexican border., As mentioned Los Angeles Times. He claims to be a US citizen but has been unable to provide documentation to ICE.

His application states that he holds citizenship “through his father, a US-born military veteran”.

Murillo was arrested in December 2019 and taken to the center regional empire in Calexico, California, and operated by a management and training company.

In your claim submitted by the organization California Cooperative for Immigrant Justice and other groups before California’s Southern District Court, Murillo claims that when he arrived at the detention center, he was given a choice between whether he wanted to be housed with the general population or in “protected custody.”

[Inmigrantes denuncian las “horrendas” e “inhumanas” condiciones del centro de detención de ICE de Louisiana]

This was hinted by an official at the center With the general population it would be more “serious”, explains the lawsuit, which is why Murillo chose what is known as protected custody

“What followed was Kafka’s nightmare of isolation, abuse and callous disregard for Morello’s physical and mental health,” says the lawsuit, which requires damages in excess of $75,000.

The conditions of the prison changed his life. to be in solitude He spent 23 hours a day locked up and without entering the stadium, unlike the rest of the detainees.

[Podcast 296+ Días: la historia de un inmigrante aislado en una prisión de ICE]

The isolation has caused paranoia and even suicidal thoughts, according to the lawsuit, which adds that requests to transfer him were denied on the grounds that he chose them in this way.

Murillo was unable to enjoy activities at the detention center, visits, and other services that Immigration and Customs Enforcement required private operators to provide to inmates.

[“Estoy peor que antes de la operación”: así era el centro de ICE cerrado por cirugías innecesarias a inmigrantes]

In his cell, he was just waiting for the authorities to decide on his immigration status.

Last year, federal inspectors submitted a report on conditions at this center and They found irregularities in how the officers dealt with “conditions of isolation.”

“The detainees were kept in solitary confinement for prolonged periods ranging from 22 to 23 hours a day. Two of them spent more than 300 days like this,” Refers to the document

last month of January, the state Department of Justice released another report It specified that the detainees in the protected detention of this center were subjected to “cruel and isolated conditions” from which they were unable to escape despite their request.

[296 días: cómo una celda de aislamiento de ICE llevó a un inmigrante a desear la muerte]

Only two weeks of the 14 months in which he was confined was Morello able to spend that in a dorm room. The circumstances of his release are not yet known, but according to the lawsuit, he “still has nightmares” about his imprisonment.