LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of legal and immigrant rights organizations in Southern California filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in California on Monday, alleging unconstitutional, "cruel and inhumane" conditions at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center.
The lawsuit alleges that detainees at the privately operated facility face unsafe and degrading conditions, including exposure to mold and contagious illnesses, inadequate medical care, and limited access to clean water and food, according to the 65-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Mario, who spent two months at the Adelanto ICE facility after living in the United States for more than three decades and only gave his first name, described the place as having inadequate food, a lack of soap, and being forced to clean bathrooms.
When illness spread through his housing unit, he said medical care was nonexistent. "They didn't care that we had fevers or coughs," he said. "It's a prison."
The lawsuit complains that conditions inside the privately run detention center have sharply deteriorated as federal immigration enforcement has intensified over the last year and conditions at Adelanto are in violation of detainees' Fifth Amendment rights.
It also points out that two detainees have already died at the center and many more are ill -- a fact the center has not refuted.
Attorneys said overcrowding and neglect had created an environment that endangers health and undermines basic human rights.
More than a dozen people died in ICE facilities nationwide last year, including two in California. Among them was Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, who died weeks after being detained while at work in Orange County, and Gabriel Garcia-Aviles, 56, who showed signs of alcohol withdrawal before being held briefly at Adelanto and later dying at a local hospital. Family members said they were not informed of the severity of their loved ones' conditions.
"We knew nothing other than that he was sick and not getting help," said Jose Ayala, Ayala-Uribe's brother. "This should not happen to anyone."
"The conditions are designed to make people give up their legal cases," said Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. "This is a system built to make people break down."
The lawsuit characterizes the treatment of detainees as part of a broader strategy to intimidate and punish immigrants seeking relief through the legal system.
According to the filing, Adelanto's population surged in the past year from just a handful of detainees to nearly 2,000, overwhelming staffing levels, medical services and safety protocols.
Nationally, the number of people held in immigration detention surpassed 65,000 late last year, with nearly three-quarters having no criminal record, according to data from the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Moreover, the Adelanto facility has faced scrutiny for years. A 2018 federal inspection identified serious violations, including overly restrictive use of segregation and failures to prevent self-harm.
In 2023, detainees filed a class-action lawsuit alleging exposure to toxic cleaning chemicals, claims denied by the facility's operator, the GEO Group.
More recently, a California Department of Justice report found that privately run immigration detention centers, including Adelanto, fell short in providing mental health care and relied excessively on force against detainees with psychological conditions.
Former workers have also warned that the facility was understaffed and ill-prepared for the huge influx of detainees driven by the current administration's draconian immigration policies.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has rejected the allegations. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, argued that lawsuits and public criticisms contributed to threats against immigration officers, citing sharp increases in reported assaults and death threats.
The Adelanto lawsuit followed another federal case filed in November by detainees at the California City Immigration Processing Center in the Mojave Desert.
That complaint alleged sewage leaks, insect infestations, denial of medical care, and barriers to legal access at a facility operated by CoreCivic -- a private prison operator and one of the largest for-profit prison, jail and detention contractors in the United States.
Attorneys in that case sought emergency court orders to secure lifesaving treatment for two detainees, which ICE ultimately agreed to provide. Meanwhile, attorneys argued that profit-driven detention contracts incentivize overcrowding and cost-cutting at the expense of human welfare.
"It is degrading and unlawful," said Rebecca Brown, a supervising attorney at Public Counsel, in a statement released Monday. "No one, regardless of immigration status, should be subjected to these conditions."
"This is shameful," Sherri B., a Los Angeles resident, told Xinhua Tuesday. "A country is judged by how we treat the least amongst us. America is better than this." ■