Rally protests alleged abuse in immigration detention centers

RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Accusations of abusive and inhumane conditions for undocumented immigrants inside of detention centers led to a rally outside the Wake County Justice Center and Sheriff's Office on Friday evening.

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"I watched my husband depreciate before my eyes and I couldn't even recognize him," said Corey Mejia Summers, one of several people who shared their stories during the rally.

She admits, however, that her husband, Luis Mejia Sanchez, has a drinking problem and drove drunk. She said he was charged with driving under the influence and served 14 months before being sent to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. He was then deported.

"They don't have any opportunity to buy any other food and it was so, so small that he lost so much weight," Mejia Summers said.

In May, Ruben Guzman sat down with ABC11 at his Knightdale home and also complained about the Stewart Detention Center.

He said the facility was dirty, the food was rotten and they were treated unreasonably poor.

At the time, ABC11 reached out to ICE for comment, and a spokesperson said all ICE facilities are subject to random inspections by independent inspectors, "and the Stewart Detention Center has repeatedly been found to operate in compliance with ICE's rigorous detention standards."

RELATED: Knightdale man recounts time in immigration facility

Mejia Summers said she is considering reaching out to the Consulate of Honduras in Atlanta.

In Guzman's case, a spokesperson for the Consulate of Mexico said Guzman's complaints were being looked into but that they regularly check detention centers and interview inmates.