A federal judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately improve 'inhumane' conditions at a detention center near Chicago. The ruling on November 6th comes in response to complaints that the Broadview center, the site of almost daily protests, has been operating opaquely with limited access to legal counsel and questionable detention conditions. In his order, effective until November 19th, Judge Robert Gettleman cited numerous irregularities, including the lack of functioning showers for detainees, comparing the facility to a World War II concentration camp. The judge ordered ICE to provide all individuals detained in Broadview with a clean mattress and bedding in any waiting room, cell, or other space, with enough room to sleep. Each room must be cleaned at least twice a day, and every detainee must have sufficient access to soap, towels, toilet paper, oral hygiene items—including a toothbrush and toothpaste—as well as menstrual products for women. ICE must ensure that each detainee can shower at least every two days, have access to clean toilets, receive three daily meals, and have a bottle of potable water with each meal. Detainees must receive any prescription medications they had at the time of their arrest, as well as any others provided by their family or lawyers for treatment. The judge ordered ICE to provide each detainee with access to telephone services to communicate privately and freely with their lawyer, preserving confidentiality at all times. He also stipulated that all new arrivals receive, as soon as possible, a list of lawyers offering free legal assistance in English and Spanish, along with interpretation services when necessary. Furthermore, the ruling states that all detainees at Broadview must be entered into ICE's Online Location System so that their whereabouts can be accurately identified from the moment they enter the center. immigration authorities shall not alter or falsify the content of the documents provided to the detainees, which must always include a translation into Spanish and be presented with the time and necessary facilities for them to be read and understood. During a hearing held on Tuesday in court, several detainees denounced overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and degrading treatment in the two-story building that, far from operating as a pre-deportation processing center, functions in practice as a prison. In their defense, federal government attorneys stated during the hearing that the six temporary detention cells at the center are cleaned daily and blamed a state law in Illinois for the overcrowding. 'Illinois is a unique case because it has laws that prevent the detention of undocumented persons. We cannot transfer them to other facilities in the county or the state,' stated Deputy U.S. Attorney Jana Brady. Judge Gettleman responded that it is 'obviously unconstitutional' to force someone to sleep on the floor next to a toilet. 'The conditions would be considered unconstitutional even in the context of prisons for convicted criminals, but these are not convicted criminals.'
