Immigrants detained in a federal custody center
The settlement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency means the lawsuit brought about an end to unsanitary conditions in the basement facility known as “B-18.”
This change occurs in an effort to avoid rules prohibiting long-term custody at the facility.
The agreement prohibits the agency from holding detainees.
“The disturbing human shell game of shuttling people back and forth between jails has ended at B-18.
This settlement eliminates the unacceptable conditions that existed. It also restores detainees’ dignity and their right to due process,”
said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrants’ rights and national security at the ACLU/SC.
The settlement agreement stems from a federal lawsuit brought five months ago by the ACLU/SC, NILC, and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky
and Walker LLP.
They charged that ICE often held immigrants for many weeks in terrible conditions at B-18.
Prior to the lawsuit, detainees had painted a harrowing picture of conditions at the facility.
There was no soap or drinking water.
Some had not been able to shower, brush their teeth, or change their clothes in weeks.
Many detainees also had no access to writing material.
This effectively deprived them of the ability to prepare legal documents needed to defend themselves.
Detention Centers,” co-written by NILC and the ACLU/SC, detailed these conditions.
“No longer canICE stuff people into overcrowded cells or deny detainees their right to see a lawyer.
This settlement serves as a safeguard. It prevents what was once an almost everyday situation at B-18:
unlawful treatment and unsanitary conditions,” said Karen Tumlin, a staff attorney with the NILC.
In order to monitor the situation at B-18,
the legal team behind this legal action will be provided with electronic rosters of detainees. This is to determine their length of stay.
“This agreement shows that the government can create a clean, safe, and constitutionally run custody facility.