'Like animals': Lawsuit alleges disturbing conditions at Broadview ICE facility

BROADVIEW, Ill. - Disturbing allegations are surfacing about the conditions inside the Broadview ICE Processing Center.

The facility has served as the Department of Homeland Security’s main hub during "Operation Midway Blitz."

What we know:

A class action lawsuit now claims federal agents are treating men and women detained at the facility like "animals" — describing the site as a "black box" and alleging that immigrants taken there are being stripped of their right to an attorney. 

"It's supposed to be a holding facility, where people are housed for about 12 hours and they go somewhere else, but that's not how it's being used and that's the core of the problem," said Samuel Cole, chief immigration litigation counsel for the ACLU of Illinois. "It's being used as a detention facility to keep people day after day after day."

The 76-page lawsuit names DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, and others as defendants. It shines a spotlight on allegations of "degrading" and "inhumane" treatment. 

"There's not enough food given to the people who are detained there, there's not enough water given to the people who are detained there, there is very little medical care, no mental healthcare. There are no beds to sleep in, no pillows — people are using toilet paper as pillows," Cole said. 

The lawsuit also claims detainees are watched when using the restroom — something that's "especially distressing for the women" as most of the federal agents there are men, the lawsuit stated. 

Cole said there are very few photos of the described conditions because the detainees allegedly have limited or no access to their cellphones. He added that those being held have also been stripped of a key constitutional right.

"Absolutely no access to attorneys, and that's outrageous. Because they are being told, and asked, and cajoled to sign immigration forms that waive their rights to appear in immigration court before an immigration judge and return to their country, and they're being asked to sign forms in English, and many of them don't speak English," Cole said. 

The lawsuit describes one instance where a federal immigration officer allowed detainee Willian Giménez González to call his wife using his cellphone. His wife was with an immigration attorney at the time, and "when the officer heard [the lawyer's] voice and learned that he was an attorney, the officer told Giménez González to end the call. The officer then reached for the phone and hung up the call himself."

Dig deeper:

The lawsuit was brought by two Illinois men who are originally from Mexico. Pablo Moreno Gonzalez has lived in the U.S. for about 32 years, according to court documents. He is married with four children.

Attorneys say he was taken by federal agents on Oct. 29 near West Foster Avenue and North Pulaski Road in Chicago. 

Felipe Agustin Zamacona is also a lead plaintiff in the case. He was arrested by federal immigration officials on Oct. 30 in Wheeling, where he was working as a delivery driver. 

Both men were detained at the Broadview ICE processing facility until Friday morning, when they were transferred to another out-of-state facility. 

During a scheduling conference with Judge Robert W. Gettleman on Friday afternoon, their attorneys — from the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center — demanded the men be returned to Illinois. 

On the same call, a U.S. attorney said he has not been able to reach his clients, and it has not yet been determined who in the Department of Justice will be assigned to handle the case. For that reason, he asked the judge if they could postpone the hearing until next week. 

Judge Gettleman said he was "not happy" to have to wait, but in fairness to both parties, he agreed. 

What's next:

DHS has not yet returned FOX 32's request for comment. 

Judge Gettleman has set another hearing for Tuesday morning at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago.