A sweeping class-action lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court alleges that people arrested in recent immigration raids are being warehoused for days in dirty, overcrowded rooms at the Broadview immigration holding facility, denied access to attorneys, and pressured into signing away their rights. The complaint is brought on behalf of detainees Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona and details conditions that plaintiffs and their lawyers say have grown “dire” during stepped-up enforcement operations, according to Chicago Tribune.

What the complaint says

According to Chicago Tribune, the suit describes holding rooms packed with dozens of people — sometimes more than 100 — where detainees sleep on plastic chairs or concrete floors under lights that stay on all night. The complaint alleges shortages of food and water, a lack of soap and menstrual products, and temperatures that swing from stifling by day to freezing at night. One detainee said people were confined “like a pile of fish,” while another said, “They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that,” the lawsuit stated, as reported by Chicago Tribune.

Medical care is a central focus. The complaint describes a 70-year-old diabetic detainee receiving only cold sandwiches and another person who went about four days without eating after religious dietary needs were disregarded. Detainees reported people vomiting, losing feeling in their legs, or foaming at the mouth, yet not receiving prompt care, according to Chicago Tribune. Attorneys also alleged missed medications even when family members delivered prescriptions to the facility, the Tribune reported.

The lawsuit accuses officers of blocking legal access — sending attorney calls to an unattended line, ignoring emails, rebuffing visits, and, in one instance, hanging up a call when a lawyer’s voice was heard. The complaint also alleges coercive tactics to secure signatures on documents waiving rights or authorizing deportation without seeing a judge. “By blocking access to detainees inside Broadview, Defendants have created a black box in which to disappear people from the U.S. justice and immigration systems,” the suit alleges, according to Chicago Tribune.

Lead counsel Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office, said, “Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” as quoted by Chicago Tribune. The case was filed by the ACLU of Illinois, the MacArthur Justice Center, and the Chicago office of Eimer Stahl, the Tribune reported.

Lives disrupted

The complaint recounts the case of a 56-year-old widower — the sole caretaker for four U.S. citizen children — who had secured a court date and, according to his attorney, a strong chance at bail. He allegedly was made to sign a voluntary departure form while in Broadview and was “on the other side of the border” later the same day, the suit says, as reported by Chicago Tribune. “His children, who are already grieving the loss of their mother from earlier this year, now must process the sudden loss of their father,” the complaint states, according to the Tribune.

Moreno Gonzalez, who immigrated from Mexico, has lived in the U.S. for about three decades and was arrested while walking in Chicago, the complaint says. Zamacona, also from Mexico and in the U.S. nearly 30 years, was arrested while working as a delivery driver. Both are currently held at Broadview, according to Chicago Tribune.

Named defendants include Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons, Customs and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, interim Chicago ICE Field Office Director Samuel Olson, and others, the Tribune reported. Agency officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Chicago Tribune. Facility background from Wikipedia: Broadview ICE Facility notes that DHS has publicly denied claims of inhumane conditions at Broadview.

A facility under strain

Conditions at the west suburban processing building have drawn scrutiny as immigration enforcement accelerated in the Chicago area. An earlier Tribune investigation found people held for two to three days — far longer than the usual five or so hours in years past — inside a building not equipped for overnight stays, according to Chicago Tribune. During the “Operation Midway Blitz” enforcement action, the consequences of mandatory detention policies pressed onto a way-station facility were “wholly predictable,” the complaint argues, as reported by the Tribune.

The Broadview site functions as an immigration processing center and has been the focus of protests that at times escalated, according to Chicago Tribune. Facility background from Wikipedia: Broadview ICE Facility describes public allegations over “poor ventilation” and “cramped cells,” while noting DHS denials.

The legal and policy backdrop

Broader shifts in federal law and court rulings frame the stakes. The Laken Riley Act, enacted in 2025, expanded categories of noncitizens subject to mandatory detention and created a mechanism for states to sue the Department of Homeland Security over enforcement, according to Wikipedia: Laken Riley Act. At the same time, a 2025 appeals court decision blocked New Jersey’s attempt to prohibit private immigrant detention contracts, reinforcing federal control over detention capacity, as reported by Reuters.

Taken together, expanded detention mandates and constrained or centralized capacity can lead to overcrowding and bottlenecks — the kind of pressures described in the Broadview complaint — a dynamic underscored by the law’s detention expansion and the court’s affirmation of federal authority, according to Wikipedia: Laken Riley Act and Reuters.

Health risks and oversight gaps

Health experts warn that overcrowded detention settings are linked to inadequate hygiene, denial of showers and bedding, poor nutrition, and higher risks of communicable and foodborne illness. Detention deaths rose in 2025 compared with 2024, signaling heightened risks when facilities operate under strain, as reported by KFF.

Plaintiffs describe transparency deficits that make independent verification difficult — from curtailed attorney access to limits on external observation — creating what the complaint calls a “black box,” according to Chicago Tribune. Data gaps remain around occupancy rates, medical staffing and logs, and attorney visitation records, which would be central to adjudicating the case and assessing compliance, according to reporting summarized by Chicago Tribune and facility information from Wikipedia: Broadview ICE Facility. These are allegations that await resolution in court, the Tribune notes.

What comes next

Attorneys with the MacArthur Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois are seeking accountability and relief for detainees, according to Chicago Tribune. Based on the reporting, the federal legal backdrop, and documented health risks, advocates and oversight bodies could pursue immediate steps to preserve evidence and mitigate harm while the lawsuit proceeds:

  • Seek court-ordered inspections and independent medical evaluations; coordinate on-site public health inspections to assess hygiene, food safety, and ventilation, as consistent with health concerns reported by KFF.
  • File targeted records requests to obtain intake logs, movement records, occupancy figures, staffing rosters, medication distribution logs, and attorney visitation records, as gaps identified in Chicago Tribune reporting and facility context from Wikipedia: Broadview ICE Facility suggest.
  • Establish medication continuity protocols and rapid triage pathways to outside care for urgent cases, aligning with risks highlighted by KFF.
  • Restore confidential attorney access and monitor communications channels to prevent detainees from “disappearing” from the judicial process, a risk described in the complaint as reported by Chicago Tribune.
  • Evaluate injunctive relief to guarantee baseline provisions — adequate food, water, hygiene supplies, and sleep conditions — while litigation proceeds, in light of allegations reported by Chicago Tribune.

The complaint portrays a facility buckling under enforcement pressure, including during “Operation Midway Blitz,” and a system where legal rights and basic health protections can be difficult to exercise, according to Chicago Tribune. Facility background from Wikipedia: Broadview ICE Facility underscores ongoing disputes over the accuracy of these claims, with DHS denials on one side and sworn accounts on the other. Whether the class action compels rapid changes — or reveals deeper structural fixes needed in an era of expanded detention mandates described by Wikipedia: Laken Riley Act and federal authority affirmed by Reuters — will hinge on what the court and independent reviewers can verify in the weeks ahead.