Federal Judge Forces ICE To Release Over 250 Detainees From A Southern California Detention Center

Topline

A U.S. District Court judge ordered a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in California to thin out its population by over 250 people after a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California alleged the overcrowded facility didn’t allow for proper social distancing and sanitation guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Key Facts

Key Background

Hatter’s release order is part of a class-action lawsuit, Hernandez Ramon v. Wolf, which was filed by the ACLU Foundation SoCal and the Latham and Watkins law firm against the Adelanto detention center, and the Department of Homeland Security. Adelanto is the largest immigration detention center in California and has often been targeted by civil rights groups who allege the detainees are kept in unsafe conditions.

Tangent

Hatter’s release order accused the government’s attorneys of “straight up dishonesty.” The government’s lawyers withheld information about when the Covid-19 outbreak began in the detention center, the scope of the outbreak, and how many detainees had previously been released before Hatter’s order, Jessica Bansal, senior staff attorney with the ACLU SoCal told Forbes. Hatter said the court had been worried about the government’s “lack of candor” during the proceedings and that “arguments previously perceived to be merely inaccurate or ambiguous might have been actually dishonest.”

Further Reading

California ruling forces ICE to release criminal aliens from detention in Adelanto (ICE)

Major Reductions at the COVID-plagued ICE Center Must Begin Monday (ACLU SoCal)

Judge calls government ‘dishonest,’ orders prisoner reduction at Adelanto ICE detention center (The Sun)