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NEW CLAIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AT INS' MIAMI DETENTION CENTER
A Mexican transsexual who was allegedly raped by an officer at the Krome detention center in Miami says she was twice assaulted by the same officer, and that she reported the first incident to three people, but nothing was done.  According to her attorney, she told a psychiatrist, a Mexican consular official and a supervisor of the detention center.  The Mexican consulate confirms that the detainee was interviewed by a consular officer.  The attorney says the second rape occurred only one day after the detainee complained to the Krome supervisor. 
A federal investigation into the incident is ongoing.  The INS does not discuss cases in which there is an ongoing investigation.  It is known that the detainee has been transferred from Krome to a hospital where she remains in INS custody.  A source within the detention center says that efforts were made to protect the detainee after the first complaint was made.  She was transferred from an isolation cell to a room in the center’s medical facility.  Despite this move, the rapist was able to get to her by delivering a meal tray. 
The detainee’s attorney says that his client was mistreated from the moment she arrived in detention in early May.  She was placed in detention after an Immigration Judge denied her application for asylum.  This denial is being appealed.  According to the attorney, officers at Krome began harassing her the moment she arrived.  They allegedly touched her breast implants and would follow her into the bathroom. 
She sought asylum in the US after years of harassment and beatings in Mexico.  Her attorney said that an asylum officer and Immigration Judge both found that she should receive asylum, but that it was revoked after a background check revealed two minor misdemeanor convictions.