We pulled into Pearsall, Texas – population just over 7,000 – at dusk after a long and productive day of meetings in San Antonio. We met with representatives from community groups and legal service organizations, some of whom will be joining us on our tour of the detention center tomorrow. Our objective in holding these meetings was to learn what the greatest challenges and concerns are for those assisting asylum seekers and others detained at Pearsall.
Tomorrow at 9:00am we will begin our visit of the detention center. Pearsall Detention Center, a facility run by a private contractor, The GEO Group, Inc., was created in 2005 and has capacity for 1,904 detainees. There are 66 beds for children to be held in detention as well. Local advocates estimate that there are 250 asylum seekers in the facility at any given time. Refugees at Pearsall Detention Center come from a wide range of countries, including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burma, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia.
Our concerns for Pearsall Detention Center are numerous. To offer just one of many recurring themes in our conversations with local groups, detainees at Pearsall receive very limited access to legal representation. This problem is created most fundamentally by the great distance between major cities and the town of Pearsall; Pearsall Detention Center is 55 miles (1 hour) from San Antonio and 134 miles (2 hours) from Austin. The distance alone makes it incredibly cumbersome for private and public attorneys to take on cases of detained asylum seekers and others.
Despite the remoteness of the facility, just this past week some groups mobilized to bring attention to recent allegations of sexual abuse at Pearsall. Moreover, as highlighted by a local reporter, several civil rights groups, including LULAC, now plan to visit the facility and have stated that they will stage a protest if they are not able to meet with the warden.
Clearly, attention recent media attention has shown a light on the needs of detainees held at Pearsall. We expect that our visit tomorrow will help us better understand the challenges faced by this vulnerable and neglected population.
Labels: Access to Legal Representation, Pearsall
