Legal News

ACLU sues federal govt to release tortured Mexican woman who was granted asylum

By Jason Siegel

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California are suing the federal government for detaining a Mexican woman for 15 months, who was granted asylum after surviving torture by Mexican police, KPBS reported. (LISTEN)

Joined by the Casa Cornelia Law Center and Greenberg Glusker, the petition calls Oscar "Diana" Santander's incarceration in Otay Mesa "unconstitutional."

Santander entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2004 as an undocumented immigrant, after Mexican police tortured her for being transgender. She was arrested on a misdemeanor and immigration officials tried to deport her. An immigration judge granted her asylum in May, but the government has appealed the decision.

The government claims that Santander is an "aggravated felon" who must be detained during the appeal because, sometime before 1990, she was incarcerated in Mexico on a robbery charge, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported (here).

"Controlling federal law bars the government from imprisoning people who have won relief under the Convention Against Torture," said ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham said in a press release. "It is shameful that the government refuses to follow that law, particularly in this case, where it has resulted in the imprisonment of a person with serious medical needs without any kind of detention hearing."

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on August 15, 2008 (boomark / email).