Detention suit headed to trial
PHOENIX — A years-old lawsuit challenging detention conditions in several of the Border Patrol’s Arizona stations will go to trial Monday as the agency as has come under fire following several migrant deaths.
The lawsuit filed in 2015 applies to eight Border Patrol facilities in Arizona where attorneys say migrants are held in unsafe and inhumane conditions. A preliminary injunction granted by U.S. District Court Judge David Bury in 2016 already requires the Tucson Sector to provide clean mats and thin blankets to migrants held for longer than 12 hours and to allow them to wash or clean themselves.
But advocates say the Border Patrol still holds immigrants for prolonged periods in filthy and freezing conditions. Although the lawsuit predates last year’s surge in immigrant arrivals at the southern border, it illustrates the some of the challenges posed when migrants are detained, especially if they are children.
Nearly 852,000 people — largely families with kids — were apprehended last fiscal year.
In Arizona, migrants and advocates have long complained about the infamously named “hieleras,” or iceboxes, where those apprehended by the Border Patrol are held before being turned over to another agency or deported.
Photos from 2015 that were evidence in the case show menjammed together under an aluminum blanket and a woman using a concrete floor littered with trash to change a baby’s diaper.
“We’re talking about ensuring that the government is meeting constitutional standards when it comes to the detention of people in these facilities,” said Victoria Lopez, advocacy and legal director for the ACLU of Arizona, one of the organizations that sued.
The Border Patrol didn’t respond to a request for comment.