CHICAGO – Detainees held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Illinois have filed a lawsuit saying the conditions they were held in were "filthy," "cruel" and aimed at "coercing" them to leave the country.
The federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois comes as the Supreme Court weighs whether to allow President Donald Trump to deploy troops to the city. Since the president launched his crackdown on the region, known as Operation Midway Blitz, Homeland Security officials say they have arrested 3,000 people during immigration enforcement. The facility at the center of the lawsuit is the site where new detainees are taken before being removed from Illinois.
Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona’s lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others acting at her direction offers the most detailed account yet of the conditions detainees experience. Journalists, members of Congress and clergy have not been given access to the facility located in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois.
Homeland Security "created a black box in which to disappear people from the U.S. justice and immigration systems," the lawsuit says, adding "the facility is a breeding ground for illness to spread … with poor sanitation, clogged toilets, and blood, human fluids, and insects in the sinks and on the walls."
