U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman will issue a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security regarding the Broadview ICE facility after a lawsuit was filed over conditions inside.

At the end of a nearly six-hour hearing Tuesday, Judge Gettleman said he believed a group of plaintiffs, including multiple people who have been detained at the facility, have made a sufficient case to justify some sort of court order, but that he wanted "to be able to fashion that in the most appropriate way I can." Gettleman said he will formally issue the temporary restraining order, and go over what exactly it entails, at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. Before that, he wants to see photos and videos from inside the facility.

The plaintiffs who brought the class-action lawsuit said they feel conditions at the facility on Beach Street in Broadview are overcrowded and dirty and not fit for humans. The facility is designed to hold detainees for up to 12 hours, but since the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Chicago area began, often has held some migrants for days. 

Gettleman said the Broadview facility has essentially become a prison. While he hasn't revealed what types of restrictions he plans to include in his order, he could go so far as to order it closed.

One of the major issues attorneys focused on during the lengthy hearing was the lack of access to legal representation for immigrants detained in Broadview. Attorneys for detainees said that issue could be fixed almost immediately with a court order, since people held there were able to contact and visit with their attorneys before "Operation Midway Blitz" began in September.

The government has argued the Broadview facility is a temporary holding facility, which contributes to the lack of communication and in-person meetings, but plaintiffs in the lawsuit have argued people are there for days, making the "temporary" nature of the facility moot.

The plaintiffs called five witnesses Tuesday who had been detained in the facility. Each testified that it was overcrowded; that there wasn't adequate food, medical care, or sleeping conditions; and that they could not access showers, soap, or other hygiene items.

The plaintiffs said detainees are only given two meals a day and none of them hot. They said the facility lacks toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, cleaning materials, and menstrual products, and that people have had to sleep on the floor or in plastic chairs with only a plastic blanket. The plaintiffs further alleged, among other things, that toilets are overflowing with human waste, and that the waste has accumulated around toilets where people had to sleep.

There were also allegations that detainees were coerced into signing documents they did not understand.

The complaint alleges federal agents at Broadview "cut off detainees from the outside world," which the government has denied.

The government attorney said because detainees are supposed to be held at the Broadview facility for a short timeframe, there are not beds in the holding cells. She also said detainees do not get new clothes for the same reason, unless they soil themselves.

The attorney for the feds said the government has also "improved" conditions at Broadview.

An attorney for the plaintiffs responded, "We are not talking about one person sleeping on the floor for one night," and said all the conditions taken together are the issue. The plaintiffs' attorney added that the federal government's wanting to deport people more quickly is not an excuse to deny constitutional rights.

Government lawyers argued that granting a temporary restraining order to close the facility would "halt the government's ability to enforce immigration law in Illinois" and that granting a temporary restraining order to restrict or oversee their methods

Witnesses break down as they detail conditions inside facility

Pablo Moreno Gonzalez, 25, said he was born in Mexico and has lived in the U.S. and in Chicago for 3 years. He said he works as a construction worker, and was arrested by federal agents at Foster Avenue and Pulaski Road on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Gonzalez said he was taken to the Broadview facility, where he said he was never told he could meet with an attorney, and was given documents asking if he wanted to leave.

"I said, 'Well, I have my family here. I don't have anyone in Mexico," he said, "and I don't want to leave. I don't want to go back to my country."

Gonzalez said he was then put in a cell with what he estimated were 150 to 170 people, and no beds. He said he was sitting in a chair to sleep, and there were not enough chairs for everyone.

"When I could stand up, I would have to jump with my fee, to I would not step on the next person," he said as he began to sob on the stand. "It was too much. It was too much. It was just too much."

Gonzalez said there were toilets close to each other, and he could not drink the water from the attached sink because too many people were using it, and it was dirty. He said people received three water bottles for day and a small sandwich in the morning, and there were sandwiches and bottles everywhere in the cell.

On cross-examination, government attorneys asked Gonzalez if he was able to call home and speak to his family, which he said he was. They also asked him if he asked his family to bring him medication or to contact an attorney, and he said he did not.

Another witness, a 47-year-old man named Felipe, said he was also born in Mexico and has lived in the U.S. for 31 years. He said he works as a package delivery person for Amazon.

Felipe said he was arrested Thursday, Oct. 30, in Wheeling, Illinois, and was taken to Broadview — where he said estimated a cell contained 120 to 150 people. He said the cell was still packed when 50 people were removed.

He said the bathroom in the cell was separated by a wall, but it did not protect privacy, and he had to wake up someone who was on or near the toilet to use the bathroom.

"They never mopped. They never swept," Felipe said. "They were a garbage can, but it was overflowed."

Felipe said the detainees were given subway sandwiches, but he only ate the first one he received because he ended up getting sick with diarrhea. He added that the detainees received three 8-ounce bottles of water a day.

Felipe said he was not able to see an attorney and would have wanted to do so.

He also said he was told to sign papers, which he claimed were described to him as court papers, but which he actually saw were self-deportation papers that would bar him from returning for a certain number of years.

"My whole life is here," he said.

A third witness, Claudia Carolina Pereira Guevara, participated in the hearing remotely from Honduras. She said she had lived in Joliet with her brother for five years, and has two children — a 5-year-old daughter and a 9-month-old.  She said her kids were at the babysitter and she was going to work when she was arrested at 5 a.m. Oct. 2 and taken to Broadview.

Guevara said she was held for four days in a large cell and one day in a personal cell. In the big cell, she said staff never cleaned — and one time, the detainees even asked for a broom to clean the cell themselves, which she never received.

Guevara said the bathroom was also dirty and the toilet was overflowing, and the detainees tried to clean it themselves. Guevara also said there were no showers, no soap or sanitizer, and no toothpaste or toothbrushes.

"They wouldn't give us anything when it comes to cleaning," she said, "absolutely nothing."

Guevara said she was sometimes given two meals and sometimes three. She said the meals were from Subway and were cold, and sometimes just had vegetables. She said detainees had to wait for meals to get water.

Guevara added that she got sick when she was at the Broadview facility. She said the day after sleeping on the floor, she couldn't feel her feet and was vomiting.

Guevara said she asked to go to the hospital, but her request was declined. She said she was taken to out of the cell in a wheelchair and was given medicine for vomiting. She said she was not told what the medicine was.

Guevera further said she was asked to sign deportation papers, which she said she could not read or understand because they were in English, and she does not speak or understand English.

She said she was told she would be held at the facility until she signed the papers, so she did so.

Guevara said she was taken to a facility in Louisiana from Broadview.

Two attorney witnesses also testified at the hearing Tuesday, saying they could not reach their clients.