 El Centro Detention Center, aka "El Corralon". |
1985 CARECEN spearheads two important lawsuits: 1) The Orantes-Hernandez v. Meese trial, a nationwide class-action lawsuit that challenges the patterns and practices of INS in its denying Salvadorans access to counsel and otherwise discouraging them from seeking asylum in the United States; 2) The class-action suit, Perez-Funes v. District Director, that requires the INS to cease coercing juveniles to waive their right to a deportation hearing, and requires the INS to provide detained juveniles access to legal advice. Another nation-wide class-action suit, American Baptist Church (ABC) v. Thornburgh, challenges the INS’s discriminatory treatment of asylum applicants from El Salvador and Guatemala. CARECEN and CRECEN help form Mayor Tom Bradley’s Advisory Council on Central America and testify at numerous public hearings. |