Immigrants sue DHS, ICE over ‘inhumane’ conditions at California detention center

Seven immigrants detained at California’s largest ICE facility filed a federal class-action lawsuit last week against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alleging constitutionally inadequate care and punitive conditions at the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert.

What they’re saying: The complaint, filed Nov. 13 in the Northern District of California, details conditions at the 2,560-bed facility where sewage allegedly bubbles up from shower drains, insects crawl on cell walls and detainees are locked in concrete group cells the size of parking spaces for extended periods. The suit also describes life-threatening medical neglect across multiple cases.

Fernando Gomez Ruiz, a diabetic father of two arrested at a lunch truck outside Home Depot in early October, was allegedly unable to receive insulin regularly and now has “a large, oozing ulcer on the bottom of his foot.” Meanwhile, Yuri Alexander Roque Campos was allegedly denied heart medication for days at a time, leading to two emergency hospitalizations for severe chest pain in which a doctor told him he could die if it happened again.

Beyond medical care, the complaint also alleges inadequate food and water, frigid temperatures forcing detainees to wear socks on their arms for warmth, enforced isolation, denial of access to lawyers and staff threats including one to make a hole in a detainee’s chest with a drill.

Why this matters: The case underscores the human cost of rapid detention expansion affecting immigrant communities, including Asian Americans. More than 20 people have died in ICE facilities this year, with five being Asian nationals. The California City facility opened in late August despite failing a July fire inspection, part of the Trump administration’s effort to expand detention capacity nationwide with $45 billion in funding aimed at detaining more than 100,000 people.

For Asian American families facing increased immigration enforcement, these conditions represent a troubling reality where civil detainees receive treatment worse than prisoners, according to some lawyers. The facility’s operation by private prison company CoreCivic also raises accountability questions, as profit considerations intersect with humane treatment standards.

The big picture: The case exemplifies systemic failures in U.S. immigration detention infrastructure. The facility previously operated as a state prison where individuals with significant medical needs were not allowed to be housed, yet it now holds vulnerable populations without adequate medical staff or oversight.

In a September inspection, Disability Rights California found that it “fails to meet people’s basic needs” and employs staff who harass detained people. The problems reflect broader concerns about ICE’s patchwork system of county jails, private prisons and newly converted facilities that has outstripped any meaningful accountability or oversight. With CoreCivic projecting full capacity by early 2026 and more than 800 people currently detained, conditions may worsen as detainees continue to arrive daily.

The suit seeks class-action status for all California City detainees and constitutional relief for violations of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment and Rehabilitation Act.