ACLU to represent family of immigrant

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2008

By Karen Lee Ziner

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is providing legal representation to the family of Hiu Lui Ng, the 34-year-old Chinese national who died last month while in immigration custody at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.

Ng, a computer engineer from New York, died from complications of cancer, according to the Office of State Medical Examiners. Ng’s lawyers said he also had a fractured spine, and was denied medical care both at the Wyatt facility and a Vermont jail where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts for bed space.

John J. McConnell Jr., a cooperating attorney with the Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union, is “gathering information about Ng’s death and investigating any potential legal claims,â€