Judge orders improvements at Broadview ICE facility after allegations of inhumane conditions

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered authorities to improve an immigration facility in the Chicago area after a group of detainees filed a lawsuit alleging they were being held in “inhumane” conditions.

The order will be valid for 14 days. The law requires officials to provide detainees at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview with clean bedding, adequate sleeping space, soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, menstrual products and prescription medications.

Read more: Judge calls alleged conditions at Chicago-area immigration site ‘disgusting’

“People should not be sleeping next to overflowing toilets,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said. “They shouldn’t be sleeping on top of each other.”

The order states that booking rooms at the facility must be cleaned twice daily. Detainees must be allowed to shower at least every two days, and must receive three full meals and bottled water on request.

Gettleman asked authorities to allow detainees to have private access to lawyers at no cost and to provide them with a list of pro bono lawyers in English and Spanish. Agents are also prohibited from distorting documents provided for detainees to sign.

The judge had described the alleged conditions as “unnecessarily cruel” after a hearing on Tuesday about overflowing toilets, crowded cells, no beds and water that “tastes like sewage”.

He said he found the witnesses “highly credible,” adding that he was impressed by the seriousness of the circumstances.

Gettleman requested a status report by Friday afternoon on how authorities met the requirements.

A message left Wednesday for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately responded to.

An officer defends the use of force

In another courtroom in Chicago, Greg Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, defended the use of force by agents accused of using pepper balls, tear gas and other tactics against people protesting federal immigration policies and immigration detention in the area.

Bovino made the statement in testimony — a private interview with attorneys on both sides — last week. It was presented into evidence during a preliminary hearing Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by the media and protesters.

Read more: Appeals court blocks judge’s order requiring daily briefings on immigration crackdowns in Chicago

In the affidavit, Bovino said he did not remember the name of the Chicago-area pastor who claims he was hit in the head with pepper balls while praying outside the Broadview ICE facility.

“I don’t know what the use of force is here, and I can’t make a judgment either way because I don’t know,” Bovino said after watching footage of Pastor David Black being shot with chemicals.

Black previously testified that he and others were not threatening customers and that protesters were beaten with pepper balls and tear gas. Black said agents did not warn protesters before using the chemicals.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys also played a clip of Bovino grabbing a man and throwing him to the ground during a demonstration outside the Broadview facility.

Oak Park Township Trustee Juan Munoz said he was standing next to the man who also fell and Bovino pinned him down during the chaos. Bovino also knocked his phone out of his hands, Munoz said.

He was arrested and detained at the Broadview facility for eight hours, Munoz said. Munoz added that he did not return to the facility to protest.

After attorneys showed footage of Munoz’s arrest, Bovino repeatedly denied during the deposition that he had engaged with the “older man” in the video and dodged questions about whether he had used force.

Bovino admitted he made physical contact with the man, but denied using force, saying it was not a “reportable use of force.”

Excessive force claims by ICE agents with dogs

U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis has already ordered agents to wear badges and banned them from using certain riot control techniques, such as tear gas, against peaceful protesters and journalists. After repeatedly reprimanding federal officials for not following her previous orders, she added a requirement for body cameras.

Ellis will consider how to respond to allegations that federal immigration agents in the Chicago area used excessive force, following a wave of recent lawsuits detailing tense confrontations between agents and residents.

Read more: In Chicago, the massive show of force signals a sharp escalation in Trump’s anti-immigration campaign

Craig Futterman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, pointed to recent examples of agents using tear gas on Chicago-area residents, including at a Halloween parade and outside a grocery store. He said Bovino himself was filmed throwing tear gas grenades at protesters. A video of Bovino throwing a can was played during Wednesday’s hearing.

Justice Department lawyer Sarmad Khojasteh accused several protesters of threatening to kill law enforcement officers, obstructing their duties, and throwing rocks and other objects at agents.

He added: “Such behavior must be rejected.” “To what extent does freedom of expression protect individuals from obstructing and/or threatening behavior – such as throwing rocks, bottles, fireworks, and surrounding and restraining law enforcement officials?”

But witnesses say the agents’ actions were unjustified.

Witnesses say ICE action not required

Leslie Cortez, a youth organizer, said she was recording and explaining rights in Spanish to day laborers arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside a Home Depot store when a customer pointed a gun at her.

“I could see inside the barrel,” Cortez testified. “My heartbeat was racing. I was nervous because they were going to shoot.”

Chicago Newspaper Guild Executive Director Emily Stillhamer also took the stand, recounting how union members said they were hit by rubber bullets, pepper balls and chemical weapons, including tear gas. She added that most of these incidents occurred in Broadview, but they also occurred at other demonstrations in the Chicago area.

In his testimony, Bovino denied allegations of excessive use of force, saying: “I did not see our men or women using force against demonstrators.”

When asked by attorneys whether a peaceful protester who refuses instructions from law enforcement would be considered violent or an “aggressive subject,” Bovino said that was an indication that someone was “potentially on that path” to obstruct customers.

“Failing to follow instructions is definitely an indicator that someone is actually willing to break the law and be somewhere they’re not supposed to be,” Bovino said.

Wednesday’s hearing comes after Ellis questioned Bovino at a public hearing last week, where she took the rare step of ordering him to brief her every evening on the federal immigration crackdown in Chicago. The move was quickly blocked by an appeals court.