Judge Calls Inhumane Conditions at Immigration Facility 'Repugnant'

Accusations of inhumane conditions in an immigration building in the Chicago area are “repugnant,” a judge said Tuesday before hearing evidence that could lead to changes at the facility where several people detained in immigration cases have been sent. The government is accused of denying detainees adequate access to food, water, and medical care, and of coercing them into signing documents they do not understand. The judge called the accusations “repugnant.” “Having to sleep on the floor next to an overflowing toilet, that’s obviously unconstitutional,” Gettleman stated. Jana Brady, an attorney from the Department of Justice, acknowledged that there are no beds in the Broadview building, just outside Chicago, because it was not intended to be a long-term detention site. Authorities have “improved operations” in recent months, and she added that there has been a “learning curve.” “The conditions are not serious enough,” Brady told the judge. The main plaintiffs in the case, Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustín Zamacona, were in the courtroom Tuesday at the judge’s insistence. Moreno González recounted that he was placed in a cell with 150 other people, with no beds, blankets, toothbrushes, or toothpaste. “It was really bad… It was too much,” Moreno González said, crying, to the judge. For months, advocates have expressed concerns about conditions at the facility, which has drawn the attention of lawmakers, political candidates, and activist groups. The Mexican migrants, who had lived in the United States for over 30 years, had been detained at Broadview until last Friday but remain in government custody. Testifying with the help of a translator, the 56-year-old Moreno González recounted that he was arrested last week while waiting to start work. Lawyers and family members of people detained there have called it a de facto detention center, saying that up to 200 people have been held at a time without access to legal counsel. Protesters demonstrate outside the Immigration and Customs Service facility in Broadview, Illinois, on September 19, 2025. “These are a set of extreme conditions that, when considered together, paint a heartbreaking picture.” Judge Robert Gettleman presided over the hearing just days after the Van Brunt group and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed the lawsuit and requested a temporary restraining order. Without that knowledge, and without private communication with attorneys, they have unknowingly waived their rights and faced deportation, the lawsuit alleges. “This is not a problem of not having a toilet or a Fiji water bottle,” attorney Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center told the judge.