Chicago Judge Mandates Urgent Reforms to Enhance Conditions at ICE Facility

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A federal judge in Chicago has issued a temporary restraining order requiring the U.S. government to supply detainees at the ICE processing center in Broadview, a Chicago suburb, with essential bedding and personal items.

This Broadview facility has been at the heart of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a two-month-long federal immigration enforcement campaign. While federal authorities have officially reported over 3,200 arrests, sources have indicated that the actual number approaches 4,000. The center has also become a hotspot for weekly protests, leading to frequent confrontations between federal agents and demonstrators.

The judge’s order mandates the federal government to provide clean bedding mats and sufficient sleeping arrangements for detainees held at the facility. Additionally, personal hygiene products like soap and toilet paper must be supplied, and there must be adequate bathroom and shower facilities for overnight stays. The order also stipulates that the facility’s holding rooms undergo cleaning twice a day.

In related news, the Norman Rockwell family has publicly criticized the Department of Homeland Security for the use of Rockwell’s art on social media.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the Associated Press that detainees receive three meals daily and have access to phones to contact family and legal representatives.

An ICE spokesperson did not immediately return a message from on Thursday seeking comment on the judge’s order.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued the temporary restraining order on Wednesday, a day after testimony was heard over Broadview conditions. Pablo Moreno Gonzalez, a 56-year-old construction worker who was born in Mexico and who has spent the past 35 years in the U.S., testified this week that he was packed into a cell with an estimated 150 other people, WTTW reported.

He testified that because of a lack of beds, he was forced to sleep in a chair and had to step over others sleeping on the floor to move from place to place.

Gettleman ruled Wednesday that conditions inside the ICE processing center do not “pass constitutional muster.”

“People shouldn’t be sleeping in plastic chairs. They shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor,” Gettleman said.

Moreno Gonzalez testified he was kept at the facility between Wednesday and Friday for one week and was never provided a hot meal. He testified detainees were only given three bottles of water and were denied more water if they asked, according to the report.

“It was too much. It was just too much. I just can’t deal with it,” he testified this week before breaking down in tears.

Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona filed a class action lawsuit last week, alleging what attorneys for the two plaintiffs characterized as a human rights crisis at the facility. In addition to complaints about conditions inside the processing center, the lawsuit also alleges that detainees are not given access to attorneys and that detainees are pressured by federal officers to sign deportation forms, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Immigration rights advocates and elected officials say they have been denied access to the inside of the Broadview facility to witness conditions for themselves. Gettleman denied a plaintiff’s motion on Wednesday to be granted access to the inside of the processing center, according to reports.

Gettleman ordered government attorneys to provide him with an update on the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to comply with the order by Friday. Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 19.