A federal lawsuit has been filed alleging poor conditions at California’s largest immigration detention facility, located in California City, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations on behalf of seven men detained at the facility. The complaint was submitted to the District Court for Northern California.
One of the plaintiffs, Sokhean Keo, said in a press release: “ICE is playing with people’s lives, and they treat people like they’re trash, like they’re nothing. Some of the people I’m detained with don’t even have soap — they take showers without soap — and they’re losing weight because they don’t have enough to eat.”
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The facility had previously operated as a prison but was closed in 2023. ICE later contracted to reopen it as an immigration detention center with a capacity for 2,560 beds. Detainees began arriving in late August; currently, about 800 people are held there.
According to the lawsuit, detainees face inadequate medical care, severe understaffing, and deteriorating infrastructure. When it reopened, detainees were required to clean dirty cells and housing units that still contained trash and unclean toilets but were not provided cleaning supplies.
The complaint also claims that conditions at this civil detention center are worse than those found in prisons for criminals. Detainees reportedly spend much of their day locked in their cells without access to programs or activities, which has led to feelings of hopelessness among some individuals and incidents of self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
Fernando Gomez Ruiz is one detainee named in the complaint. He was apprehended by ICE outside a Home Depot while eating at a food truck in early October. As a diabetic, he alleges he has been denied regular insulin doses since his detention. This has resulted in high blood sugar levels and an ulcer on his foot that he covers with used bandages due to lack of clean supplies.
The Trump administration has pursued aggressive policies aimed at removing individuals living illegally in the United States.
