CHICAGO: Illinois advocates sued federal authorities Friday over alleged “inhumane and torturous” conditions at a Chicago-area federal immigration facility.
Attorneys with the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center say US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have denied people being held at the Broadview facility private calls with attorneys and have blocked members of Congress, faith leaders and journalists from entering the building, creating a “black box” they say has allowed authorities to act “with impunity.”
Agents have also allegedly coerced people held at the processing center to sign paperwork they don’t understand, leading them to unknowingly relinquish their rights and face deportation, according to the lawsuit.
Representatives of ICE and The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead attorney for the lawsuit, said community members are “being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights.”
“Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” she said.
Attorneys accuse ICE, DHS and US Customs and Border Protection of violating detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to due process and First Amendment right to legal counsel, and have asked the court to force the agencies to improve the facility’s conditions.
Advocates have for months raised concerns about conditions at the facility, which has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress, political candidates and activist groups.
Lawyers and relatives of people held at the facility have called it a de facto detention center, where up to 200 people have been held at a time without access to legal counsel.
DHS previously dismissed the claims, saying those held at the facility have proper meals, medical treatment and access to communication with family members and lawyers.
The Broadview center has also drawn demonstrations, which have led to the arrests of numerous protesters. The protests are at the center of a separate lawsuit from a coalition of news outlets and protesters who claim federal agents violated their First Amendment rights by repeatedly using tear gas and other weapons on them.
US District Judge Sara Ellis sided with the coalition earlier this month, requiring federal agents in the Chicago area to wear badges and banning them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. Later, Ellis also required body cameras for agents who have them after raising concerns about her initial order not being followed.
Advocates allege ‘inhumane’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility in new lawsuit
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Advocates allege ‘inhumane’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility in new lawsuit
- Agents have also allegedly coerced people held at the processing center to sign paperwork they don’t understand
- Lawyers and relatives of people held at the facility have called it a de facto detention center
Mexico’s Sheinbaum to hold a support rally following major protests
- Sheinbaum called for supporters to gather in the capital on the weekend in what analysts said was an attempt to demonstrate her support in the face of growing scrutiny
MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has organized a large rally in the country’s capital on Saturday to shore up her support following a month of political pushback and major protests.
The killing of Mayor Carlos Manzo in restive Michoacan state had sparked two days of demonstrations in November with protesters setting fire to public buildings.
Just weeks later, thousands marched through the streets of Mexico City to protest drug violence and the government’s security policies. That was followed by the abrupt departure of the country’s attorney general, Alejandro Gertz, in December over reported disagreements with Sheinbaum’s administration on crime policy.
Sheinbaum called for supporters to gather in the capital on the weekend in what analysts said was an attempt to demonstrate her support in the face of growing scrutiny.
“We close this 2025 with the historic celebration of seven years of transformation,” Sheinbaum said in a post on X.
Sheinbaum took office in 2024, following the six-year tenure of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with both leaders representing the left-wing Morena party.
“Let us together defend the people’s achievements ... in the Zocalo of Mexico City,” Sheinbaum added, referring to the capital’s main public square where weeks ago protesters criticizing her government’s security policies had clashed with police.
Though Sheinbaum has seen high approval ratings in her first year of power, they dipped slightly in recent months, easing from 74 percent in October to 71 percent at the start of December, according to the Polls MX survey summary.
- ‘Reshape the narrative’ -
Analysts told AFP the president not only faces scrutiny from her political opponents and members of the public, but from within her own party.
This gathering in the Zocalo, the country’s main square, is an “attempt at internal support, to reshape the narrative, to call for unity,” said political analyst Pablo Majluf.
Political columnist Hernan Gomez Bruera told AFP that Sheinbaum is “an incredibly efficient president” who likes to be in control and demands a lot from her team. But she is also “very thin-skinned” and “has difficulty dealing with dissent,” he added.
Despite a slight slip in poll numbers over the past few months, the leftist leader, who is Mexico’s first woman president, is still benefiting from a decline in poverty levels that began under her predecessor.
Sheinbaum has also won praise among her supporters for keeping at bay US President Donald Trump’s threats of high trade tariffs and military action on Mexican soil against drug cartels.
Sheinbaum met with Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington on Friday to discuss trade on the sidelines of the draw for the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by all three countries. She said on X following the meeting that the three nations maintain a “very good relationship.”
