U.S. May Deport Krome Women Who Accused Guards of Sexual Assaults

By Jody A. Benjamin, Staff Writer
Originally published in the Sun-Sentinel, June 12, 2001

MIAMI — Immigrant advocates are scrambling to prevent the deportation of two women who said federal guards at the Krome Service Processing Center sexually harassed and assaulted them. More than a year after 11 women at the immigrant detention camp alleged that guards abused them, their attorneys are struggling to keep a federal investigation into Krome alive.

Hope for that investigation waned sharply after INS deported Eddy Pierre Paul to Haiti on June 4. Federal investigators dismissed Paul's allegation that a male Krome employee sexually abused him as having no merit, according to INS.

Now the agency plans to deport two of the women within the next 10 days, said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. The pro-bono legal service group represents one of the women.

"This entire investigation is screeching to a halt," Little said. "These women are going to be deported before they get a chance to tell their stories to a grand jury."

On Monday, Little said the Krome investigation was superficial. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment on whether the women were to be deported, but said the overall investigation continues.

"These investigations are comprehensive, and we will take as long as we need to," said Department of Justice spokesman Dan Nelson.