Disability Law United and our partners at the Texas Civil Rights Project and Orrick, Herrington & Suttcliffe LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of asylum seekers with disabilities and their families challenging the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) policy that has forced them to await their immigration proceedings in Mexico, instead of being processed into the United States.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed challenging the MPP, however, this is the first case challenging the MPP’s discriminatory practices on the basis of disability. When forced to remain in Mexico Plaintiffs, and those similarly situated, not only face squalid conditions in make-shift shelters but are at higher risks due to the lack of accessible shelters, accommodations and medical or mental health care.
The suit was filed by Disability Law United, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, with support from Lawyers for Good Government Foundation and on behalf of individual plaintiffs and organizational plaintiff Al Otro Lado.
Named plaintiffs in this class action include:
- S.M.A., a 7-year-old girl who lives with Lissencephaly more commonly known as smooth brain disorder, which is characterized by global development delays and seizures. She is incontinent and suffers from seizures.
- D.G.M, a 51-year-old man with a growth in his heart that causes severe cardiovascular issues. While in CBP custody, his blood pressure spiked dangerously high and he was rushed to the hospital and subsequently returned to Mexico. D.G.M’s condition has worsened greatly being in Matamoros where he has been refused medical treatment.
- C.J.V.C., a 14-year-old boy who had his leg amputated after a car accident prior to coming to the United States. He has limited mobility living in a shelter with his mother in Mexico.