FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2020

Press contact:
Rebecca Susman, Communications Manager, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Email: rsusman@pailp.org
Phone: 412-254-4771

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Berks County will pay a $75,000 settlement to E.D., a woman who was sexually abused by immigration detention center staff member Daniel Sharkey at the Berks County Residential Center, which Berks County operates under a contract with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). Sharkey was ultimately convicted of institutional sexual assault.

E.D. was detained at the Berks immigration facility while seeking asylum with her three-year-old son after fleeing violence and sexual assault in Honduras. The facility is one of only three family immigration detention centers in the nation that detain both children and adults.

Sharkey, who was 40 at the time, employed classic grooming techniques, including favors, threats, and an emphasis on secrecy, to gradually coerce 19 year-old E.D. into having sex with him. Staff failed to intervene and subsequently retaliated against E.D.

“All individuals should be treated with dignity, especially those who cross our borders seeking safety and protection. Detention centers and their staff have a duty to protect people in their custody from sexual abuse, but Berks County and its staff failed to protect E.D. We are pleased with the positive resolution of this case for E.D.,” said Su Ming Yeh, Interim Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and lead attorney for E.D.

Importantly, in July 2019 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit issued a precedential landmark opinion in favor of E.D., ruling that individuals held in immigration detention are protected by the U.S. Constitution.

E.D. is satisfied with the outcome and is excited to move forward with her life. The settlement will allow her to resume her life without the emotional labor of reliving her traumas in court.

“This case helps shine a spotlight on sexual abuse in immigration detention and the situations endured by detainees, especially women and mothers,” said Matthew Archambeault, Esquire, who supported E.D. in initially coming forward to report the sexual abuse.

Su Ming Yeh and Matthew Feldman of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, Matthew Archambeault of the Law Office of Matthew Archambeault, and Sozi Tulante, Will Sachse, and Benjamin McAnaney from Dechert LLP represented E.D. in the case E.D. v. Sharkey, 16 Civ. 2750 (E.D. Pa) before U.S. District Court Judge Edward G. Smith.

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