Filed

In January 2020, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit seeking to reunite a family of asylum-seekers separated by a Trump administration policy that has led to widespread chaos and suffering at the southern U.S. border. 

Under what was dubbed the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP) by the Trump administration, tens of thousands of asylum-seekers have been sent to dangerous cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, waiting for distant court dates in an asylum system that the Trump administration is seeking to dismantle. Far from providing “protection” for migrants and asylum-seekers, MPP has exposed people to severe risk of violence and persecution.

The ACLU lawsuit was filed on behalf of a family that, fearing for their lives, fled Central America and sought protection in the United States. The family is now separated as a result of MPP. While Maudy Constanza and their two daughters were screened and released into the United States, her partner and their son were returned to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, while their cases were processed. 

After returning to Mexico, the father and son spent several days in extremely precarious conditions, surviving an attempted kidnapping, and going hungry when it was too dangerous to go out to buy food. While they eventually found shelter farther from the border, conditions are so unsafe that they rarely leave the home—other than to attend church or when making the dangerous trip to attend their asylum hearings.

The lawsuit argues that the government’s actions violate federal law, as well as the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

UPDATE: After the government agreed to settle the ACLU lawsuit, the family was reunited in Massachusetts on February 6, 2020. Learn more.

Media:

• Guatemalan family seeking asylum reunited after suing feds | Associated Press

• Asylum crisis: Out of sight, out of mind | Boston Globe

UPDATE: In February 2020, the DOC agreed to provide the plaintiffs their prescribed medication for continued treatment of their opioid use disorder throughout their incarceration.

In December 2019, the ACLU of Massachusetts, together with Goodwin Procter, filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC). The lawsuit challenges DOC’s refusal to provide medication for addiction treatment (MAT) to prisoners diagnosed with opioid use disorder.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three people who were then incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons, argues that it is dangerous and discriminatory to deny adequate treatment to inmates. Specifically, the suit argues that DOC’s actions constitute cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment, and discrimination against people with a recognized disability, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Before entering state prison, each of the plaintiffs had been diagnosed with opioid use disorder and was prescribed a daily buprenorphine dose based on their individual medical needs. When they entered state prison, the plaintiffs learned from prison medical providers that, as a matter of policy, they would receive MAT for only 90 days, after which time the medication would be withdrawn until the last 90 days of their sentence. When MAT is abruptly terminated, people with opioid use disorder suffer painful withdrawal and face an increased risk of relapse, overdose, and death.

The ACLU’s lawsuit alleges that DOC has a policy of withholding adequate treatment, rather than providing it. The suit asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would require DOC officials to provide the plaintiffs with their prescribed medication for continued treatment of their opioid use disorder while incarcerated.

The lawsuit follows two successful cases brought by the ACLU of Massachusetts against correctional facilities. In November 2018, a federal court ordered Essex County to provide a Massachusetts man with continued access to prescribed methadone during his sentence. Other federal and local correctional facilities have agreed to settle legal claims and provide MAT in their facilities. In June 2019, the Federal Bureau of Prisons entered a final settlement agreement to provide a Massachusetts woman with her prescribed methadone treatment throughout the course of her incarceration.

Media:

• Mass. DOC settles lawsuit with 3 inmates to provide them opioid addiction medication, ACLU says | MassLive

• 3 Men Will Continue To Receive Addiction Medication In Prison Under Settlement With ACLU | WBUR

• Mass. Prisons Agree to Provide Addiction Medications for Inmates | Associated Press

• Massachusetts prisons to provide 3 inmates addiction treatment in ACLU settlement | Reuters

• Inmates' access to addiction treatment temporarily reinstated | State House News Service

• Mass. Prisons Agree To Extend Medication For Addiction Treatment After Lawsuit | WBUR

• Suit alleges Massachusetts prisons deny treatment to addicted inmates | The Boston Globe

• ACLU sues Massachusetts Department of Correction for denying inmates medication assisted treatment for drug addiction | MassLive

• Prison system faces federal lawsuit over opioid treatment limits | Associated Press