While the AP doesn’t usually identify alleged victims of sexual assault, Monterrosa-Flores has agreed to come forward publicly. She told the AP in December that she believed ICE and the facility guards were trying to intimidate her. About 40,000 people are being held in immigration detention, many in private facilities under contracts with ICE. The advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, or CIVIC, sent a complaint in April 2017 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that listed 27 allegations of sexual abuse in immigration detention over the previous three years. The complaint also said another 1,016 people reported sexual abuse in detention to the department between May 2014 and July 2016.

Source: National Post March 13, 2018 23:11 UTC