Six people detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County with medical conditions that make them highly vulnerable to serious illness and death if infected with COVID-19 filed a lawsuit in federal court against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) calling for their immediate release.
Because of their acute medical conditions — including HIV infection, congestive heart failure, asthma, and diabetes — the plaintiffs are particularly in danger in Adelanto where as many as 100 detainees share common living quarters with beds only inches apart.
ICE’s continued detention clustering of vulnerable individuals under these circumstances creates not only a humanitarian crisis but also a constitutional one. The plaintiffs are subject to violations of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments" and the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process that prevents the government from exposing civil detainees to risk of serious illness and death.
Case Developments
VICTORY! The judge has ordered all six petitioners to be released from Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
All of the government's proposed countermeasures in their opposition are woefully inadequate to address the grave urgency of the matter. Given the asymptomatic nature of transmission and nationwide dearth of testing kits, COVID-19 may already be running rampant at Adelanto. The court must immediately release medically vulnerable immigration detainees from custody. Read our reply in support of the motion for temporary restraining order.
The government filed an opposition to our application for a temporary restraining order. Read the memorandum.
Release from detention is the only option to protect Plaintiffs from COVID-19 under the current conditions at Adelanto. We filed a temporary restraining order calling for the plaintiffs' immediate release. Read the TRO.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, and the ACLU Foundation's Immigrants' Rights Project and National Prison Project. Read the complaint.
