Seven people held at California's largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center have sued the US government, alleging they are denied essential medications, often go hungry and are held in a “decrepit” facility.
A federal class-action lawsuit filed against ICE on Wednesday challenges “inhumane conditions” at the California city detention center, which opened in late August inside a closed state prison. The lawsuit alleges “life-threatening” medical neglect, with plaintiffs alleging they were denied cancer treatment, basic disability accommodations and regular insulin to treat diabetes.
The facility is operated by a private prison corporation, CoreCivic, which is not a named defendant.
Residents have been sounding the alarm about the facility for two months, with some calling it a “torture chamber” and “hell on earth.” interview.
California City is located in the remote Mojave Desert, 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Los Angeles. It can accommodate more than 2500 people, increase The number of ICE detention facilities in California has increased by 36%. Lawyers say more than 800 people are currently being held there.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in an email that allegations of “poor conditions” at the detention center are “false,” writing, “No one was denied access to proper medical care.”
The lawsuit, which alleges constitutional violations, describes the conditions as “horrible” and says: “Sewage bubbles out of the shower stalls and insects crawl up and down the walls of the cells. People are locked in concrete cells the size of parking spaces for hours on end.”
Temperatures inside are “cold,” and detained residents who cannot afford the roughly $20 sweatshirts “suffer from the cold, some wearing socks on their arms as makeshift sleeves,” the complaint alleges; Food is “meager” and people who cannot afford to buy extra food go hungry.
Even though residents are detained for civil immigration violations rather than felonies, California City is “even more restrictive and punitive than a prison,” attorneys say. Families are forced to visit their relatives behind glass, with parents unable to hug or touch their children, and the facility “severely limits access to attorneys, leaving people confused and with little or no communication with the outside world,” the lawsuit alleges.
DHS's McLaughlin said detainees are provided with three meals a day and nutritionists evaluate the meals to “ensure they meet appropriate standards.” She said they “have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” adding, “ICE has higher standards of detention than most U.S. prisons.”
Residents are speaking out as the Department of Homeland Security continues to ramp up $45 billion in immigration raids across the country. expand the capabilities of the internal combustion enginefor the purpose of detaining more than 100,000 people. Civil rights trials have repeatedly expressed concern about conditions of detention through country.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Prison Law Firm, the law firm of Keker Van Nest & Peters, the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Immigrant Justice Alliance.
Requests for medical assistance “went unanswered for weeks or received no response at all,” the complaint states. People with disabilities are said to have difficulty accessing basic services, including wheelchairs. One man, whose glasses were confiscated upon admission and had trouble seeing things in front of him, fell out of his bed and was hospitalized, the lawsuit says.
Jose Ruiz Canizales, the detained plaintiff who is deaf and nonverbal, has been in California City since Aug. 29 but has only communicated with staff once through a sign language interpreter via video, the complaint states. When he tries to communicate, employees “often shrug, walk away, or laugh at him.” The impact on his mental health was so severe that he was hospitalized due to a panic attack.
Yuri Alexander Roque Campos, another plaintiff, suffers from a heart abnormality that requires daily monitoring and medication, but since arriving in California City on Sept. 5, he has been withheld from taking his medications “for several days,” his lawyers wrote, resulting in two emergency hospitalizations for severe chest pain. A hospital doctor allegedly told him “he could die if this happens again,” but the lawsuit says he has not yet seen a cardiologist and is still not receiving ongoing treatment.
Sohan Keo, who previously spoke about his temporary hunger strike to protest conditions, witnessed a friend's suicide attempt at the facility and remains traumatized by the memories, the lawyers wrote.
“I am filing this lawsuit to try to put an end to the suffering and pain that I see here,” Kehoe said in a statement released by his lawyers. “ICE is playing with people's lives and they treat people like trash, like nothing.”
When residents visit doctors, “the care they receive is dangerously poor,” according to the complaint, because providers do not document test results, correct abnormal test results, or prescribe timely treatment.
Fernando Viera Reyes, a plaintiff transferred to California City in late August, was scheduled to undergo a biopsy to formally diagnose and begin treatment for prostate cancer, but his request to see a doctor went unanswered for weeks and he still has not seen a urologist or been tested for his condition, the lawsuit says. His blood tests and bleeding when urinating suggest his cancer may have metastasized, his lawyers said.
Plaintiff Fernando Gomez Ruiz, a father of two and a Los Angeles resident for 22 years, was arrested by ICE in early October while in a food truck outside Home Depot, the complaint states. Since his arrival in the California city in mid-October, he has not received regular insulin to treat his diabetes, which has resulted in elevated blood sugar levels and a “large, weeping ulcer on the sole of his foot,” the lawsuit states. He says he was forced to cover the wound with “dirty bandages and bloody shoes” and is concerned he will need amputation.
DHS did not respond to the detailed health care claims contained in the lawsuit, but McLaughlin said ICE provides “comprehensive health care from the moment” people are detained: “This includes medical, dental and mental health screenings within 12 hours of arrival at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entry into ICE custody or arrival at the facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.” She said ICE “provides necessary accommodations for people with disabilities.”
CoreCivic did not immediately respond to queries. Representative told the Guardian at the end of September the company is “serious about [its] Role and responsibility for providing high quality health care that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week” and meets medical standards set by government partners. Residents have “daily access” to sign up for treatment, prescribed medications are monitored by medical staff “or by the individual themselves,” and nurses “immediately inform the physician when an extension is required,” the company said.
The plaintiffs also accused the officers of “abusive” behavior and “unreasonable use of force.” On Sept. 29, officers entered the cell of a man being held in “administrative segregation,” a form of restricted confinement, and struck him with shields even though he was already handcuffed and restrained him with their knees on his back, the complaint states.
On October 3, Gustavo Guevara Alarcón, another plaintiff, said he witnessed an officer spray pepper spray on a man who did not speak English after the man did not understand the officer and addressed leave.
In another supposed In the Oct. 9 incident described in the lawsuit, people were screaming for help due to a suicide attempt and a man came out of his cell to watch. An officer conducting a maintenance drill ordered the man to put his “ass in” while threatening to “punch a hole in his chest,” and the man allegedly received disciplinary action for being off camera.
“California City's sentencing conditions are punishment by design,” said Tess Borden, senior attorney at the Prison Law Office. “ICE and DHS use detention as a threat to immigrants who choose to stay in America, and they are making good on that threat in California City. Many people have agreed to be deported, and some have even attempted suicide because the conditions at the facility are so unbearable.”
McLaughlin did not respond to reports of specific incidents, but said ICE places people in segregation for “their own protection or the protection of others,” adding: “Ensuring the safety, security and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority… ICE is regularly audited and audited by outside agencies to ensure that all ICE facilities meet national performance-based detention standards.”
