HOUSTON — The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has filed a claim against the federal government on behalf of lawful resident Elton Purvis, who allegedly experienced medical neglect and mistreatment at the hands of federal law enforcement in Texas while in immigration detention.
The filing is part of a coordinated nationwide effort by the ACLU and its affiliates involving 53 claims across 17 states and Washington D.C.
The ACLU asserts that, since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, federal law enforcement agents have terrorized communities and people in their custody with a blatant disregard for the law, resulting in deadly consequences.
The group says conditions in ICE facilities are so inhumane that the rate of deaths in ICE custody has more than doubled since Trump’s term began, reaching its highest level in over a decade.
In early July, reporting revealed that, after the White House pushed to increase arrest rates, ICE officials detained more than 10,000 people in five days. Only days later, ICE agents in unmarked vehicles shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas while he was on his way to work.
The following week, another federal agent shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine.
In Texas, the ACLU says it suit represents a call for accountability against the injustices that individuals face in immigration detention every day. Purvis is bringing legal action against the federal government for the harm he experienced during his seven-month detention last year, including at a facility in Pearsall, Texas.
As a devout Rastafarian priest and Type 1 diabetic, Purvis requires regular medical monitoring, specialized treatment, and an appropriate diet that conforms to his religious, medical, and allergenic needs, according to the ACLU.
Instead, ICE locked him up and consistently denied him the medical care and food he needed to survive. As a result, Purvis was found unresponsive and hospitalized on numerous occasions.
He seeks monetary damages from the U.S. government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for claims related to negligence, medical negligence, 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,” said ACLU attorney Caro Rivera Nelson. “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.”
According to the ACLU, Purvis has lawful immigration status and was returning home for two of his sons’ graduations when he was apprehended by ICE. He is the father to nine U.S. citizen children and has been a community fixture for more than 30 years.
Throughout his detention, he was consistently denied access to necessary medical care, insulin, edible food, and clean drinking water, and hospitalized at least three times.
