Judge orders halt to alleged ‘inhumane’ conditions for Illinois detainees
Caroline MolloyA Chicago-based federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to maintain strict cleanliness and hygiene requirements for migrants detained at an Illinois facility.
The court also ordered the administration to provide detainees with access to legal representation.
The temporary restraining order entered Nov. 5 by Judge Robert W. Gettleman, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, did not address the plaintiff’s concerns about a lack of religious accommodations, including the ability to receive holy Communion.
Gettleman’s order Nov. 5 directed the administration to provide adequate food, water, and hygiene practices to detainees along with prescribed medications.
“Plaintiffs and members of the putative class have suffered, and are likely to suffer, irreparable harm absent the temporary relief granted,” said the order, which will be in effect until a Nov. 19 status hearing.
Gettleman required detainees to be provided with soap, towels, toilet paper, oral hygiene products (including toothbrushes and toothpaste), and menstrual products.
The order said: “Defendants shall provide each detainee with at least three full meals per day that meet the U.S. recommended dietary allowance … Defendants shall provide each detainee with a bottle of potable water with each meal and bottled water upon request free of charge.”
It specified that papers provided to detainees “should include an accompanying Spanish translation.”
‘Squalid living environment’
The judge’s order followed an hourslong hearing on Nov. 4 featuring argument between lawyers for detainees and Trump administration attorneys, and testimony from former detainees at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Broadview facility located at 1930 Beach St.
On Oct. 30, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, together with the MacArthur Justice Center — a self-described nonprofit civil rights law firm based in Chicago — filed a civil suit (Moreno Gonzalez v. Noem) in federal court alleging detainees at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility faced overcrowded, “inhumane” conditions, insufficient nutrition, inadequate medical care, lack of privacy, and a squalid living environment.
“The food provided to detainees is insufficient and lacks nutrition,” according to the complaint filed last week by lawyers for several detainees. “At most, detainees receive two to three small, cold sandwiches per day.”
The detainee’s lawyers say in their lawsuit: “The physical conditions are filthy, with poor sanitation, clogged toilets, and blood, human fluids, and insects in the sinks and the floor.” The complaint says overcrowding, “unhygienic conditions, lack of medical care, and deprivation of adequate food” has turned the Broadview ICE facility into “a breeding ground for illness to spread.”
“The toilets are filthy and often get clogged, resulting in urine and dirty water on the floor where detainees are forced to sleep,” according to the detainees’ attorneys in their complaint.
