Detainees are held in harrowing conditions at the the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Broadview, which is operating like a “black site” where people are little access to attorneys and are coerced to sign away their rights, attorneys argued Tuesday morning before a federal judge.
Less than a week after attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions at the west suburban facility, attorneys on behalf of detainees asked U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman to issue a restraining order prohibiting the government from keeping people in substandard conditions and also allow immediate access to attorneys.
“The government is trying so doggedly to deport people at such a fast rate … access to counsel is more important than ever,” said Alexa Van Brunt, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney. “Once someone signs away their rights, its done.”
The complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Chicago, is the first class-action effort to bring accountability and relief to detainees, who are allegedly being warehoused in dirty and unsafe conditions at a building not meant to harbor people overnight. The suit further alleges that government officials systematically deny detainees their right to consult with lawyers, effectively creating a “black box” where those arrested disappear with little ability to contact attorneys.
The case is before Gettleman, who on Friday said “the quicker the better” for proceedings to begin, given the seriousness of the allegations. It is filed on behalf of detainees Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona, who have been ordered by Gettleman to remain in the Northern District of Illinois.
Gettleman is overseeing what is expected to be a full-day hearing on the conditions at the facility, which will likely include testimony from detainees.
Government attorneys have contested allegations raised by the plaintiffs, but acknowledged that they have not yet “fact-checked” all the claims.
“I was told yesterday in terms of cleanliness, the Broadview facility ordered wipes so people can sanitize,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Brady.
The complaint alleges a series of abuses, including medical neglect, overcrowded cells and lack of adequate food and hygiene products, that have grown worse during the “Operation Midway Blitz” raids.
In the two-story building, detainees are forced to sleep on plastic chairs or the concrete floor, the complaint says.
Officers are also coercing people to sign documents that relinquish their rights, according to the suit, as officials try to deport them without going before an immigration judge.
“By blocking access to detainees inside Broadview, Defendants have created a black box in which to disappear people from the U.S. justice and immigration systems,” the complaint alleges.
There are four small holding rooms at the facility, according to the lawsuit, and sometimes there is not enough room for detainees to lie on the floor as dozens if not more than 100 people are packed in for days on end. One woman said the detainees were confined in cells “like a pile of fish.”
One inmate became ill — “suffering from numbness in her lower body, an inability to feel her legs, and vomiting” — but was not seen by a doctor and ICE refused to take her to a medical facility, according to the lawsuit. The detainee also saw one man who “appeared to have suffered a heart attack” but officers “laughed at the man and made light of his medical condition,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order that asks for a set of baseline conditions for all detainees, including access to attorneys, clean bedding, adequate hygiene products, at least three nutritionally adequate meals per day and other requirements.
