A man suffering a seizure went without oxygen as guards watched him convulse on the floor, and another was not given antibiotics for a severe staph infection that led his finger to burst — allegations that civil rights attorneys and immigration advocates say reveal just how inhumane and unconstitutional conditions have become for people at the Adelanto detention center in San Bernardino County.
These experiences were included in a federal lawsuit filed Monday by Public Counsel and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on behalf of four people currently detained at Adelanto. The suit is seeking class action status for detainees at Adelanto and challenges what attorneys described as a system that prioritizes profit over human life.
“What is happening at Adelanto detention center is a violation of the most fundamental rights we hold dear as a society,” said Gina Amato Lough, a senior attorney at Public Counsel. “Behind the walls of Adelanto, our neighbors, community members and loved ones are being subjected to conditions that assault human dignity.”
Lough warned the impacts extend far beyond the facility’s walls.
“This is a system that will affect generations of immigrant communities and families to come,” she said. “That’s why we’re filing this lawsuit.”
The complaint says the for-profit detention center operated by GEO Group has a long history of unsafe and abusive conditions. The facility’s population spiked from just a handful of detainees to nearly 2,000 in a matter of months after federal immigration raids resumed last year.
“This explosion happened without sufficient staffing, without adequate medical infrastructure, and without basic safeguards to protect health and safety,” Lough said.
ICE and GEO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
GEO Group has previously denied allegations of neglect, saying its facilities meet federal standards.
According to the lawsuit, detainees live in filth, cold temperatures, mold, and experience hunger and a lack of medical care. The detainees complain about the mistreatment of people with disabilities and retaliation against anyone who speaks out in protest. Attorneys emphasized that most people detained at Adelanto have not been convicted of crimes and are awaiting their immigration court hearings.
“Detention cannot mean lawlessness,” Public Counsel attorney Rebecca Brown said. “It cannot become a place of cruelty.”
Several people shared personal accounts at a press conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday.
Mario, a former detainee who has lived in the U.S. for 33 years and has a wife and two adult children, said Border Patrol agents detained him at his workplace on Aug. 19. He said he has no criminal record and has paid taxes for decades.
Mario said he was held first in Santa Ana, then in a downtown Los Angeles holding facility for seven days with little food, before being transferred to Adelanto.
“It’s a prison,” he said. “The conditions aren’t good. We all fell sick while in there.”
He described being housed with about 200 people in his group and spending days sick with a high fever. “I spent two days in bed. I couldn’t get up,” he said. “No one asked me how I was doing and the fever wouldn’t go away.”
Mario said detainees were left to clean the facility themselves.
José Ayala, whose brother Ismael Ayala died after being detained at Adelanto, said the family learned of his brother’s death from police — not from the detention center.
“He was sick and he wasn’t getting any help when he asked,” Ayala said. “We had no idea he was hospitalized or scheduled for surgery. There was no information given to us by Adelanto.”
Ayala said his brother, who dreamed of becoming a graphic designer, was deeply loved. “My brother was a great person, with a big heart,” he said. “His life was cut short. This is something that shouldn’t be happening to anyone.”
The lawsuit seeks court orders requiring ICE to reduce overcrowding, provide adequate medical care, protect detainees from retaliation, and ensure humane conditions at Adelanto. Attorneys are also asking the court to certify the case as a class action covering all people detained at the facility.