By Jorge Calvillo (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 16, 2014 02:55 PM EDT

A new case of abuse against immigrants detained in U.S. prisons came to light with the sexual assault of an 18-year-old teenager detained by immigration authorities in the Sherburne County jail.

The teenager was sexually abused repeatedly by his cellmate, a man who was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of minors, showcasing the mixture of undocumented immigrants not charged with any crime with convicted prisoners.

The contract between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Sherburne County detention center consists of hosting 85 detained immigrants who have not been processed for crimes other than residing illegally in the country. However, since the attack on the teenager, Sherburne authorities have said that immigrants have been separated from the penitentiary community, according to the Star Tribune.

Detained immigrants have sent documents to the corresponding authorities in the U.S., expressing their fears regarding the mistreatment they receive in the country's jails. The Star Tribune has pointed out that cases of sexual abuse against immigrants is not unique to Sherburne. In a revision of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act point to at least 200 similar cases between 2007 and 2011.

Last March, immigrants detained by ICE started a hunger strike in two detention centers. The immigrants detained in Joe Corley, Texas, joined with those in Tacoma, Washington, who have been in a hunger strike seeking to end the deportations which have disintegrated entire families and the bad treatment suffered by those detained.

According to a press release from the Grassroots Leadership organization, in its website, the immigrant's demands are comprised by fundamental points which demand not only dignified treatment to detainees, but end of double trials over old cases and nutritional food for immigrants, and medical attention, a reduction in the cost of phone calls and lower rates in the prison's store.

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