SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two San Diego-based organizations are calling for accountability from the Department of Homeland Security for a case, they say, ended in physical assault and family separation.
Luis Gonzalez, the directing attorney at the Jewish Family Service of San Diego, is representing a woman named Lucy and her three children who were fleeing violence in El Salvador.
According to Gonzalez, Lucy was assaulted by a Border Patrol agent when the family was detained along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Imperial Valley in February. During the detention, Lucy and her kids were separated.
On Tuesday, the Jewish Family Service of San Diego, the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, asking for a full investigation into what happened in Lucy's case. The groups also asked for accountability from the agent accused of assaulting her and for the family to be granted asylum.
Gonzalez said Lucy was initially criminally charged, accused of forcibly assaulting, resisting, and interfering with the male Border Patrol agent. Those charges were later dismissed.
The family attorney said Lucy and her children were separated for five months. Her stepson was deported back to El Salvador while his mother was detained, without having the chance to claim asylum. Lucy and her two other kids are now with family in Los Angeles.
They're hoping her story, and the letter, push the Biden administration to make changes in the way these cases are handled.
The family attorney said DHS has confirmed they've received the letter but they have not yet issued a response.
ABC 10News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and CBP for comment about this case, but neither agency responded as of the publication of this story.
To read the full letter click here.
