澳彩开奖

RIVERSIDE, Calif. 鈥� A federal judge ruled today that a nationwide class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can proceed, greenlighting a challenge to ICE鈥檚 system-wide failure to provide standard medical and mental health care and disability accommodations for people in its custody.听

U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal issued the ruling in the lawsuit filed by the 澳彩开奖 (澳彩开奖), Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. The plaintiffs seek zero monetary damages and instead only an end to the inhumane and traumatic experience of ICE detention affecting tens of thousands across the country.听

Judge Bernal denied the government鈥檚 motion to divide the nationwide lawsuit into 15 individual cases in eight district courts. He also denied ICE鈥檚 motion to strike the 200-page complaint, which was filed in the U.S District Court for the Central District of California in August 2019.听

The ruling comes amid the spread of Covid-19 in detention centers, a dangerous scenario that doctors and public health experts across the country have warned will only be made worse by ICE鈥檚 lack of pre-existing medical care and substandard detention center conditions. On March 25, the groups filed an emergency preliminary injunction motion in the case requiring ICE to immediately fix numerous deficiencies in its Covid-19 response, such as inadequate staffing, resources and oversight. The motion further seeks the immediate release of medically vulnerable people if ICE cannot or will not take immediate steps to protect those who are in its custody. Judge Bernal has yet to rule on that injunction.听 听

鈥淭oday, the court rejected ICE鈥檚 false narrative that our plaintiffs鈥� stories represent just a few individual problems,鈥� said Lisa Graybill, 澳彩开奖 deputy legal director. 鈥淭he court saw through ICE鈥檚 deliberate mischaracterization of our case. This is the first step in holding ICE to account for its appalling treatment of the tens of thousands of immigrants needlessly incarcerated and languishing in its prisons around the country.鈥�
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According to the lawsuit, ICE has failed to provide detained migrants in over 150 facilities nationwide with safe and humane conditions, as required by agency standards, federal law and the U.S. Constitution. Numerous reports, including accounts by internal government investigators, detail the lack of sufficient medical and mental health care treatment, ultimately resulting in untreated medical needs, prolonged suffering and preventable death. ICE鈥檚 punitive use of segregation violates the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The agency鈥檚 failure to ensure that detained immigrants with disabilities are provided accommodations and do not face discrimination violates Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
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鈥淢entally, they are killing us,鈥� said plaintiff Ruben Mencias Soto. 鈥淲hat I am living and what I am seeing is not only my situation. This is unjust as a system. [The government] is falling to the lowest level with ICE.鈥�

Mencias Soto, who has been detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California for over a year, has dislocated and herniated discs in his back. He has had his wheelchair and crutches taken away by detention staff, leaving him without a device to help him walk and causing immense pain.
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"Across the country, ICE continually fails to provide basic medical care and necessary disability accommodations to people in immigration detention 鈥� putting thousands of people in life-threatening danger every day. From holding people with disabilities in solitary confinement solely because of their medical needs to denying patients in detention doctor-ordered emergency medical care, ICE has demonstrated incompetence and cruelty toward people with disabilities. Disability Rights Advocates is committed to fighting for the civil rights of those in custody until ICE complies with U.S. law," said Stuart Seaborn, Managing Director of Litigation, Disability Rights Advocates.
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鈥淚CE鈥檚 failure to ensure that private prison companies like the GEO Group adequately take care of people in their custody has been an open secret for a long time,鈥� said Timothy Fox, co-executive director of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center. 鈥淲e are pleased that the court will allow us to move forward and hopefully end the impunity with which this agency and its private operators have been acting for too long.鈥�
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Plaintiff Jose Baca Hernandez underscored that the goal of the case is to 鈥渋mprove health for me and the rest of the people here [in detention]. This is not only for me. It鈥檚 so everyone here can be healthy.鈥� During his time in custody, ICE failed to provide Baca Hernandez--a blind man--with effective communication. He has been forced to rely on his cellmates, attorneys, and guards to read documents, including those related to his medical care and immigration case.听
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Plaintiff Luis Rodriguez Delgadillo, who has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had reached a considerable measure of mental health stability before his detention. In detention, however, his shifting medication regime, lack of therapy and the failure of mental health staff to mitigate stressors have caused his mental health to noticeably decline.
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This case is about fighting to ensure 鈥渨e all can get better treatment,鈥� Rodriguez Delgadillo said. 鈥淪ome people don鈥檛 have the means or are scared to speak, so we fight for everyone else.鈥�
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The parties will work with the court to set the schedule for the litigation of the case.

See plaintiffs鈥� opposition to defendants鈥� motion to sever and dismiss, transfer actions, and strike portions of the complaint here.听
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See the complaint here and all other filings in the case here.听