The ACLU of Texas has filed a claim against the U.S. government on Thursday, alleging immigration agents failed to provide necessary food and medical care to a man locked up in a detention site less than an hour southwest of San Antonio.
In its legal filing, the ACLU of Texas alleges Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to offer “regular medical monitoring, specialized treatment and an appropriate diet” for inmate Elton Purvis, a Type 1 diabetic and Rastafarian priest.
Purvis was found unresponsive and hospitalized multiple times due to ICE’s neglect, according to the legal filing. He’s now seeking monetary damages from the government for negligence, medical neglect, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“The injustice that Mr. Purvis was forced to endure while in detention is tragically representative of the experience of thousands of detainees in Texas immigration detention centers,” ACLU of Texas attorney Caro Rivera Nelson said in a statement. “Individuals are left in inhumane conditions for months on end without access to adequate medical care, edible food, potable water, or a way out. While in detention, Mr. Purvis filed over 100 grievances to ICE and followed every channel available to ask for medical help – nothing worked.”
ICE officials had no immediate response to the Current’s questions about the lawsuit.
In a statement, Purvis said he had difficulty getting medicine to treat his diabetes and faced an uphill battle even speaking to his attorney.
“Being in detention broke my courage. It felt like they were trying to kill me,” Purvis said. “I was so desperate to receive medical help. So many times I knew I was on the verge of going into diabetic shock. I often had to beg for help as my sugar dropped and I started feeling shortness of breath, dizziness and seeing stars. I would pray that the guards would send help before I became unresponsive.”
Purvis’ filing is part of a coordinated pushback by the ACLU and its affiliates against the Trump White House’s mass-deportation policy. The civil-rights group has filed 53 claims for prisoners across 17 states and Washington, D.C., citing what it called a “widespread pattern of civil rights violations and abuse carried out by officials nationwide.”
The rate of deaths in ICE custody has more than doubled since Trump’s current term began, reaching its highest level in more than a decade, the ACLU reports, citing a recent Human Rights Watch study.
This week, another immigrant detention center near the Alamo City also came under fire for alleged human rights violations. After a visit to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley organized by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, a pediatric critical care doctor from Children’s National Hospital in Washington said conditions inside amounted to child abuse.
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