An Illinois federal judge on Thursday urged immigrant detainees to give “serious consideration” to streamlining their lawsuit challenging allegedly inhumane conditions at a Chicago-area immigration detention facility, signaling agreement with government arguments that the current complaint is overly lengthy and difficult to answer.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said during a brief hearing that while he understood the plaintiffs’ drafting choices, the complaint brought by detainees Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona “reads a lot like a press release” and could be “tightened up an awful lot.”
“There’s an awful lot of facts in a single paragraph, and I think the defendants have a point that it’s awfully hard to respond,” Judge Gettleman said. “They can say we deny everything, but there’s probably parts of those paragraphs that shouldn’t be denied.”
The lawsuit targets conditions at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility and was filed in October, when immigration officials were carrying out heightened enforcement operations in the Chicago area. Judge Gettleman noted that “the facts on the ground have changed a lot” since then, with enforcement activity having significantly slowed, at least for now.
The detainees’ attorney, Samuel Cole of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, told the court that his clients would discuss the judge’s concerns but requested time to submit a response to the government’s pending motion to dismiss.
Judge Gettleman granted the plaintiffs until Feb. 17 to file that brief but instructed them to promptly notify the court if they choose to amend their complaint, urging them to “take what I said seriously.” He added that the detainees would retain the right to amend even if the dismissal motion is granted.
The case remains set for a preliminary injunction hearing following a temporary restraining order Judge Gettleman previously entered, addressing conditions and access-to-counsel issues raised by the detainees and supported by testimony during a November evidentiary hearing.
In a statement to Law360, Cole said, “We listened closely to all the comments from the court today,” and added that the legal team “will take any and all steps necessary to assure that our clients are not subject to mistreatment at the hands of DHS at Broadview.”
Shortly after Judge Gettleman’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ruled that she would take on a separate lawsuit filed by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago challenging alleged excessive force by federal immigration authorities.
That case will be treated as related to a pending lawsuit brought by journalists and protesters alleging excessive force by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ICE and other federal officials during immigration enforcement operations.
The federal government argued that the press-and-protesters case was too far along procedurally for Judge Ellis to accept the Illinois and Chicago lawsuit and said the government entities’ claims extended beyond enforcement tactics to include trespassing and other issues.
Judge Ellis rejected that position, noting that both cases arise from the same Chicago-area enforcement “surge” and that extensive evidence-gathering and injunction proceedings had already given the court “substantial familiarity” with the underlying facts.
“Having another judge get up to speed on these issues would be inefficient,” Judge Ellis said.
She emphasized that finding the cases related does not mean they will be consolidated.
“They are not one case,” she said. “They are simply two cases that are related to each other.”
The press-and-protesters plaintiffs are scheduled to check back in with Judge Ellis to learn whether she will grant their request to voluntarily dismiss their case. That request followed the slowdown in enforcement activity and a Seventh Circuit ruling that paused a preliminary injunction the appellate court described as “overbroad.”
Judge Ellis previously left open an objection window for proposed class members and later expressed concern about dismissal in light of ongoing immigration enforcement beyond Illinois, including in Minnesota.
Representatives for Illinois, Chicago and the federal government did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
